Sunil Mittal's Promoter Entity Trims Stake in Bharti Airtel, Shares Down by 2%

Roughly 3.5 crore shares of Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel changed hands on the stock exchanges on Wednesday as reports indicated that one of the promoter entities had reduced its holding in the company. The share volume amounts to about 0.6% of the company’s total shareholding.

Following the block deal, Bharti Airtel’s shares declined as much as 2% in early trade. At 11.30 AM, the stock was down 1.49% at ₹2,128 on the BSE. So far this year, the company has delivered a 33.42% return.

While the exchanges did not identify the seller, they noted that the block deal took place at ₹2,108 apiece. Earlier, news agency Reuters reported that promoter entity Indian Continent Investment Ltd (ICIL) planned to sell around 3.43 crore shares, about 0.56% of Airtel’s equity for roughly $806 million (around ₹7,195 crore). The indicated floor price for that deal, according to the agency, was ₹2,096.7 per share.

Following the deal, ICIL would hold just 0.92% in the telecom major. The entity, owned by the Bharti Mittal family and Anil Kumar Jain’s Indo Count Industries Ltd (ICIL), has been reducing its stake in Bharti Airtel since February this year. ICIL executed two sales on 8 August totalling 6 crore shares for over ₹11,227 crore combined. Earlier in February, it sold more than 5.11 crore shares for ₹8,485.11 crore.

ICIL is not alone. Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel)’s subsidiary Pastel Limited has also been trimming its stake in the company. Recent exchange data shows a series of large transactions: Pastel Limited sold 5.1 crore shares on November 7, 2025 for ₹10,354.89 crore. Earlier in May, it sold 7.1 crore shares for ₹12,879.97 crore.

According to NSE data, Bharti Airtel’s shareholding pattern shows a gradual decline in promoter and promoter group ownership, falling from 52.42% in March 2025 to 50.27% in September. Public shareholding has risen from 47.51% in March to 49.68% in September. Shares held by employee trusts remained largely unchanged, moving slightly from 0.07% in March to 0.05% in September.

As of September 2025, among the promoter entities, Bharti Telecom Ltd holds 40.47% of the shares, Indian Continent Investment Ltd owns 1.48%, and Pastel Ltd accounts for 8.32% of Bharti Airtel’s stake.

In the September quarter, Bharti Airtel posted a consolidated net profit of ₹6,791 crore, up 14.2% from ₹5,948 crore in the June quarter and above market expectations of ₹6,600 crore. Revenue increased 5.4% sequentially to ₹52,145 crore, surpassing analyst forecasts. EBITDA rose 6.2% quarter-on-quarter to ₹29,561 crore, with margins improving to 56.7% from 56.3%.