Bharti Airtel Dethrones HDFC Bank to Become India's Second Most Valuable Company

Bharti Airtel overtook HDFC Bank on May 18 to become the country's second most valued company by market capitalisation, a milestone that underscores the telecom giant's rising investor confidence and the private lender's recent struggles.

Airtel shares climbed as much as 2% on May 18 to trade at ₹1,953.8 apiece, pushing its market capitalisation to nearly ₹12 lakh crore. HDFC Bank, by comparison, stood at ₹11.8 lakh crore. Reliance Industries remains the most valued Indian company with a market cap of ₹18.04 lakh crore.

Airtel's stock has risen 10% over the past week, while HDFC Bank managed a gain of just 1% during the same period. The private lender has been under pressure since its part-time chairman Atanu Chakraborty resigned, with its shares dropping 22% over the past six months.

A Strong Quarter for Airtel

The market cap milestone comes on the back of a solid quarterly performance. Airtel reported a 15.6% surge in consolidated revenue from operations to ₹55,383.2 crore in Q4 FY26, up from ₹47,876.2 crore a year ago. On a sequential basis, revenue rose 2.5%.

However, consolidated net profit declined 33.5% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹7,325 crore, compared to ₹11,021.8 crore in the same quarter last year, though it rose 10.4% sequentially.

Airtel's India revenue grew 7.7% YoY to ₹39,566 crore, driven by an 8.3% rise in mobile revenue on the back of higher realisations and a growing customer base. Its Average Revenue Per User climbed to ₹257 from ₹245 a year ago.

Airtel is not slowing down. Speaking during the company's Q4 FY26 earnings call, executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal said the company plans to set up 56 edge data centres over the next 18 to 24 months. He added that Airtel would focus strongly on data centres, expanding its optical fibre cable network, and scaling up its newly announced non-banking financial services business, in which it has committed an investment of ₹20,000 crore.

For HDFC Bank, the road ahead looks less certain. The private lender has been under pressure since part-time chairman Atanu Chakraborty stepped down, a resignation that came without a clear public explanation. The bank has not offered a detailed reason for his exit, adding an air of uncertainty to an institution already grappling with a 22% slide in its stock over the past six months.