Q1 2026 · NSE · May 19, 2026

BHARTIARTL A New Rs3,161 Crore Charge Appeared, and the CFO Wouldn't Say What It Was For

Bharti Airtel's Q4 FY26 net income attributable to owners fell 33.5% YoY to Rs7,325.1 crore, but the driver isn't the exceptional-items base effect that shaped the last three quarters - it's the absence of last year's one-time tax windfall, plus a new Rs3,160.7 crore regulatory-levies charge the CFO twice declined to specify on the call. Underneath both, EBITDA hit a fresh site-high margin of 58.45% and the rights-issue cash finally arrived.

A Fourth Distortion, But Finally a Real Business Reason This Time

BHARTIARTL share price against operating income and its margin, last 12 quarters BHARTIARTL share price against operating income and its margin, last 12 quarters. One graph by quarter: bars are the quarter's operating income in Rs. crore, with two lines over them, the share price at quarter-end and the operating income margin. Q1 FY24: share price Rs. 879, operating income 10,293, margin 27.5%; Q2 FY24: share price Rs. 926, operating income 10,110, margin 27.3%; Q3 FY24: share price Rs. 1,032, operating income 10,180, margin 26.9%; Q4 FY24: share price Rs. 1,229, operating income 9,607, margin 25.5%; Q1 FY25: share price Rs. 1,444, operating income 9,531, margin 24.8%; Q2 FY25: share price Rs. 1,710, operating income 11,101, margin 26.8%; Q3 FY25: share price Rs. 1,588, operating income 13,362, margin 29.6%; Q4 FY25: share price Rs. 1,733, operating income 15,169, margin 31.7%; Q1 FY26: share price Rs. 2,010, operating income 15,882, margin 32.1%; Q2 FY26: share price Rs. 1,878, operating income 17,107, margin 32.8%; Q3 FY26: share price Rs. 2,106, operating income 18,065, margin 33.5%; Q4 FY26: share price Rs. 1,782, operating income 18,727, margin 33.8%. Share price at quarter-end (Rs., left axis) Operating income margin, % (right axis) Operating income for the quarter (Rs. crore; bars from zero, values in the bottom row) Rs. 1,000 Rs. 1,500 Rs. 2,000 25% 30% 10,293 10,110 10,180 9,607 9,531 11,101 13,362 15,169 15,882 17,107 18,065 18,727 Rs. 879 27.5% Q1 FY24 Rs. 926 27.3% Q2 FY24 Rs. 1,032 26.9% Q3 FY24 Rs. 1,229 25.5% Q4 FY24 Rs. 1,444 24.8% Q1 FY25 Rs. 1,710 26.8% Q2 FY25 Rs. 1,588 29.6% Q3 FY25 Rs. 1,733 31.7% Q4 FY25 Rs. 2,010 32.1% Q1 FY26 Rs. 1,878 32.8% Q2 FY26 Rs. 2,106 33.5% Q3 FY26 Rs. 1,782 33.8% Q4 FY26 Operating

Over these 12 quarters: share price Rs. 879 to Rs. 1,782 (+103%); operating income 10,293 to 18,727 Rs. crore; operating income margin 27.5% to 33.8%. One graph in actual numbers: bars are the quarter's operating income, over them the share price at quarter-end (left axis) and the operating income margin (right axis); each line is fitted to its own range, so read the timing, not the heights. Prices are adjusted for splits.

Three quarters in a row have turned on the same mechanism in three different directions - understating growth, then overstating it, then inverting the base entirely when a one-time Indus Towers gain rolled out of the year-ago quarter. This quarter's headline - net income attributable to owners down 33.5% YoY, from Rs11,021.8 crore to Rs7,325.1 crore - looks like a repeat of that pattern, but it isn't. The year-ago quarter's own high base was never an operating number to begin with: Q4 FY25's Rs11,021.8 crore was inflated by a one-time Rs5,913.3 crore tax benefit that has nothing to do with this quarter. Strip that comparator out and what's left is a genuinely different story: revenue grew 15.7% to Rs55,383.2 crore, EBITDA» grew 17.7% to a fresh site-high margin of 58.45% (beating Dec-25's 58.33% for a third straight quarterly record), and EBIT grew 21.4%. The one genuinely new element this quarter is a Rs3,160.7 crore charge "on account of regulatory and government levies" - the first exceptional item not obviously tied to currency, tax, or M&A - and when an analyst asked what it was for, twice, Bharti's CFO twice declined to say (see Beyond the Usual).

The quarter also closed out one long-running thread and opened another. The rights-issue final call - flagged as still-outstanding cash in the last post - actually landed: Rs15,696.0 crore was collected from partly-paid shareholders during the quarter, arriving on "the last day," per the CFO, alongside a separate payment of existing AGR» dues. The Board also recommended a final dividend of Rs24 per fully paid share, up 50% from FY2025's Rs16 - a real answer, finally, to the dividend-formula question analysts kept asking on the last call without ever getting a policy commitment. And in a governance update that surfaced only in the investor presentation's fine print, not in any headline: Sunil Bharti Mittal will step down as Chairman of Airtel Africa plc at that entity's July 2026 AGM, with Gopal Vittal - already moved from Bharti Airtel CEO to Executive Vice Chairman as of January 1, 2026 - taking the Airtel Africa chair, and Shravin Bharti Mittal, the founder's son, becoming Deputy Chair (see Beyond the Usual). Three threads that have now sat silent for four straight quarters - the Indus Towers stake-increase plan, the Adani Data Networks spectrum deal, and the Bharti Hexacom tower-transfer pause - stayed silent again, and Xtelify, already retreating to vaguer language last quarter, wasn't mentioned by name a single time in either the presentation body or the transcript this quarter.

The Prescription

Bharti should name what it's provisioning for, even in general terms, once a regulatory charge gets large enough to move quarterly profit before tax by 24%. When Ambit's Vivekanand Subbaraman asked directly what the Rs3,160.7 crore "regulatory and government levies" charge related to, CFO Soumen Ray's answer was that it followed "a regular cadence" guided by auditors and the audit committee and that "there is nothing new, exceptional or unearthly" - and when pressed again on whether this was a previously-disclosed contingent liability now being provided for, he still wouldn't confirm it, saying only "the interpretation of that existing thing has been changed." That may all be true, and prudent provisioning against a known dispute is unremarkable on its own. But a company that already discloses far more granular detail elsewhere in the same call - segment ROCE targets, data-center capacity ambitions, per-market ARPU breakdowns - has no real excuse for treating "what regulatory dispute is this" as off-limits when the number itself is public and material. Naming the category (spectrum usage charge, license fee, a state-level levy, whatever it actually is) costs nothing competitively and would have closed this section before it opened.

What it should stop doing: letting Xtelify go from a named, quantified platform pitch to total silence in two quarters. Two quarters ago, Xtelify launched with named partners and specific metrics. Last quarter, the specifics thinned to "two deals... final stages with another couple." This quarter, the platform doesn't appear anywhere in the presentation's narrative sections or the earnings call transcript - only in the standard boilerplate list of group entities on page one. A diversification story that goes from headline to footnote to nothing in three quarters isn't building credibility with the market; it's teaching analysts to stop asking about it, which is a worse outcome for a company that will eventually want this business re-rated.

Key Financial Metrics

BHARTIARTL net revenue, operating income and its margin, last 12 quarters (Rs. crore) BHARTIARTL net revenue, operating income and its margin, last 12 quarters (Rs. crore). In Rs. crore, with the operating income margin as a percent of net revenue. Q1 FY24: net revenue 37,440, operating income 10,293, margin 27.5%; Q2 FY24: net revenue 37,044, operating income 10,110, margin 27.3%; Q3 FY24: net revenue 37,900, operating income 10,180, margin 26.9%; Q4 FY24: net revenue 37,599, operating income 9,607, margin 25.5%; Q1 FY25: net revenue 38,506, operating income 9,531, margin 24.8%; Q2 FY25: net revenue 41,473, operating income 11,101, margin 26.8%; Q3 FY25: net revenue 45,129, operating income 13,362, margin 29.6%; Q4 FY25: net revenue 47,876, operating income 15,169, margin 31.7%; Q1 FY26: net revenue 49,463, operating income 15,882, margin 32.1%; Q2 FY26: net revenue 52,145, operating income 17,107, margin 32.8%; Q3 FY26: net revenue 53,982, operating income 18,065, margin 33.5%; Q4 FY26: net revenue 55,383, operating income 18,727, margin 33.8%. Net revenue Operating income Operating income margin (% of net revenue) 37,440 10,293 Q1 FY24 37,044 10,110 Q2 FY24 37,900 10,180 Q3 FY24 37,599 9,607 Q4 FY24 38,506 9,531 Q1 FY25 41,473 11,101 Q2 FY25 45,129 13,362 Q3 FY25 47,876 15,169 Q4 FY25 49,463 15,882 Q1 FY26 52,145 17,107 Q2 FY26 53,982 18,065 Q3 FY26 55,383 18,727 Q4 FY26 27.5% 27.3% 26.9% 25.5% 24.8% 26.8% 29.6% 31.7% 32.1% 32.8% 33.5% 33.8%

Rs. crore; margin is operating income as a percent of net revenue, per quarter.

Q4 FY26 (quarter ended Mar 31, 2026) vs. Q4 FY25, consolidated, audited

FX rates below are the company's own disclosed RBI reference rates for the quarter: INR 91.72 = USD 1 (average, for income-statement lines) and INR 94.65 = USD 1 (March 31, 2026 close, for balance-sheet and market-cap figures); the year-ago quarter used INR 86.37 (average) and INR 85.58 (close), both per this quarter's own disclosed comparative rates. The rupee weakened roughly 6.2% against the dollar on an average basis over the year - worth keeping in mind wherever a reported-currency growth rate looks stronger than the constant-currency figure discussed alongside it.

Metric Q4 FY26 (INR) Q4 FY26 (USD) Q4 FY25 (INR) YoY
Revenue Rs55,383.2 crore ~$6.04B Rs47,876.2 crore +15.7%
EBITDA» (audited results' own "profit before D&A, finance costs, share of JV, exceptional items and tax") Rs32,370.1 crore ~$3.53B Rs27,494.6 crore +17.7%, margin 58.45% - a fresh site-high, beating Dec-25's 58.33%
Operating Income» (EBIT, audited) Rs18,156.0 crore ~$1.98B Rs14,950.1 crore +21.4%, margin 32.79% vs 31.23%
Profit before tax and exceptional items (audited) Rs13,205.4 crore ~$1.44B Rs9,724.0 crore +35.8%
Exceptional items (net, pretax) Rs3,160.7 crore charge ("regulatory and government levies," see Beyond the Usual) Rs140.1 crore charge (small, unrelated) a real, much larger charge this year, not a base-effect artifact
Profit before tax (audited, statutory) Rs10,044.7 crore ~$1.10B Rs9,583.9 crore +4.8%
Tax expense (net) Rs797.3 crore ~$87M Rs(2,891.9) crore credit n/m - last year's number was the one-time deferred-tax-asset windfall covered in that post; this year's tax line is a normal, small net expense despite the Rs3,095.2 crore deferred-tax-liability reversal tied to this quarter's own charge (see Beyond the Usual)
Net Income» (total profit for the period, audited) Rs9,247.4 crore ~$1.01B Rs12,475.8 crore -25.9%
...of which, attributable to Bharti Airtel's own shareholders (audited) Rs7,325.1 crore ~$799M Rs11,021.8 crore -33.5% (base effect, not an operating decline - see above)
...of which, attributable to non-controlling interests» (audited) Rs1,922.3 crore ~$210M Rs1,454.0 crore +32.2%
Basic EPS Rs12.53 ~$0.14 Rs19.02 -34.1% (same base effect)
Capex (company-reported) Rs16,065.6 crore ~$1.75B Rs14,400.8 crore +11.6%
Operating Free Cash Flow» (EBITDA minus capex, company-reported style) Rs15,972.6 crore ~$1.74B Rs13,003.5 crore +22.8%
Total Cash (cash and cash equivalents, end of period, audited cash flow statement) Rs24,384.7 crore ~$2.66B Rs10,653.1 crore +128.9% - the rights-issue cash and a reduction in bank overdrafts both landed inside this figure

The tax-line reversal deserves its own sentence: this quarter's Rs3,160.7 crore pretax charge came with a matching Rs3,095.2 crore reversal of unrelated deferred tax liabilities (see Beyond the Usual), which is why profit before tax rose only modestly after the exceptional item (+4.8%) while profit after tax and NCI (owners' net income) fell sharply - the two adjustments hit different lines of the P&L, and only one of them offsets the other by coincidence of timing, not by design.

Balance sheet metric Mar 2026 (INR) Mar 2026 (USD) Mar 2025 (INR) YoY
Total Assets Rs552,151.6 crore ~$58.31B Rs514,360.4 crore +7.3%
Total Liabilities Rs356,188.2 crore ~$37.63B Rs360,892.7 crore -1.3%
Equity attributable to owners of the parent Rs149,056.6 crore ~$15.75B Rs113,671.9 crore +31.1% YoY, and up from Dec-25's Rs124,794.9 crore QoQ
Book value per share (company-disclosed, adjusts for partly-paid shares) Rs244.60 ~$2.58 Rs195.99 +24.8%
Net Debt (company-reported, incl. leases) Rs164,788.8 crore ~$17.41B Rs203,838.4 crore -19.2%
Net Debt excluding lease obligations Rs91,048.5 crore ~$9.62B Rs138,508.6 crore -34.3% - the rights-issue proceeds and the AGR-dues payment both moved through this quarter
Net Debt/EBITDA (annualized, company-reported) 1.29x 1.86x improved sharply
Interest Coverage Ratio (company-reported) 7.31x 6.27x improved

The CFO's own explanation for the deleveraging: "the money of the rights [issue] came in around end of mid of March, the payment of the AGR dues happened on the last day" - both cash movements landed inside this single quarter, back to back, right before period-end.

Where Q4 FY26's Revenue Went

Net revenue, and how much of it was left as operating profit and net income, in one view. Figures are the same standalone-quarter figures as the metrics table.

BHARTIARTL Q4 FY26 revenue-to-profit flow Net revenue is the starting point. From net revenue, cost and deduction flows are shaded red, darkest to lightest by size, and operating income splits into other items & tax and net income, shown in green. Figures in Rs. crore and percent of net revenue, Q4 FY26. Net revenue Rs. 55,383 crore · 100% Operating income — Rs. 18,727 crore · 34% Operating costs Rs. 36,657 crore · 66% Other items & tax Rs. 11,402 crore · 21% Net income Rs. 7,325 crore · 13%

Rs. crore, Q4 FY26. Operating costs are net revenue less operating income; other items & tax are operating income less net income.

Key Operational Metrics

An investor presentation and earnings call transcript were available for this quarter; no separate press release was sourced.

Metric Mar-26 Mar-25 YoY
Total customer base (consolidated) ~665,966,000 ~590,514,000 +12.8%
India customer base ~482,421,000 ~424,461,000 +13.7%
Africa customer base ~183,545,000 ~166,053,000 +10.5%
Mobile Services India ARPU» Rs257 Rs245 +4.9% YoY, but -0.6% QoQ - a sequential ARPU decline, extending Dec-25's deceleration into an outright dip
Postpaid base (Mobile Services India) ~28,958,000 ~25,882,000 +11.9%
Homes Services customer base ~14,221,000 ~10,038,000 +41.7%, crossed 14 million
Homes Services net additions (quarter) ~1,135,000 ~812,000 +39.8% YoY, though down slightly QoQ from Dec-25's 1,159,000
Digital TV customer base (incl. IPTV, comparable both periods) ~15,997,000 ~15,898,000 +0.6% - see Beyond the Usual for why this segment's margin still worsened
5G/4G data customer base (India) ~296,756,000 ~276,784,000 +7.2%

Management's own framing of ARPU was notably candid rather than reassuring: on the India update, CEO Shashwat Sharma said "we are not happy with the ARPU increase of Rs.3 for the quarter," attributing part of the shortfall to what he called the "West Asia crisis." Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal offered a structural explanation rather than a fix - that blended ARPU is mechanically dragged down by mix shift as newer, lower-plan customers join a base whose acquisition ARPU "is not declining at all" - but no fresh tariff-repair language or pricing-architecture ask was made on this call, a step back from Mar-25's pointed "one-size-fits-all pricing model is broken" framing.

Segment Comparison

Bharti Airtel still reports seven consolidated segments, with Mobile Services South Asia disposed since June 2024. This is the first quarter since Indus Towers' November 2024 consolidation where the Passive Infrastructure Services segment has a genuinely comparable full quarter in both the current and year-ago base - no partial-quarter caveat needed this time.

Segment Revenue (Q4 FY26) Revenue (Q4 FY25) YoY Segment Result (Q4 FY26) Margin (Q4 FY26) Margin (Q4 FY25)
Mobile Services India Rs28,830.5 crore Rs26,616.8 crore +8.3% Rs9,434.9 crore 32.7% 29.6%
Mobile Services Africa Rs16,033.5 crore Rs11,376.3 crore +41.0% Rs5,408.8 crore 33.7% 29.8%
Airtel Business Rs5,490.4 crore Rs5,315.5 crore +3.3% Rs1,657.4 crore 30.2% 31.3%
Passive Infrastructure Services (Indus Towers) Rs8,200.9 crore Rs7,763.0 crore +5.6% Rs2,765.2 crore 33.7% 36.0%
Homes Services Rs2,191.4 crore Rs1,596.1 crore +37.3% Rs316.9 crore 14.5% 20.2%
Digital TV Services Rs746.7 crore Rs764.4 crore -2.3% Rs(83.6) crore -11.2% 0.0%
Others Rs93.4 crore Rs89.1 crore +4.8% Rs92.9 crore
Total segment revenue Rs61,586.8 crore Rs53,521.2 crore +15.1% Rs18,479.0 crore

("Segment Result" is profit before finance costs, charity/donation, exceptional items and tax - an EBIT-level margin - per the audited segment note, consistent with prior posts.)

Mobile Services India

BHARTIARTL Mobile Services India: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 11 quarters (Rs. crore) BHARTIARTL Mobile Services India: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 11 quarters (Rs. crore). In Rs. crore, with the segment result margin as a percent of segment revenue. Q2 FY24: segment revenue 20,952, segment result 4,678, margin 22.3%; Q3 FY24: segment revenue 21,639, segment result 4,795, margin 22.2%; Q4 FY24: segment revenue 22,066, segment result 4,829, margin 21.9%; Q1 FY25: segment revenue 22,527, segment result 4,841, margin 21.5%; Q2 FY25: segment revenue 24,837, segment result 6,189, margin 24.9%; Q3 FY25: segment revenue 26,269, segment result 7,498, margin 28.5%; Q4 FY25: segment revenue 26,617, segment result 7,872, margin 29.6%; Q1 FY26: segment revenue 27,397, segment result 8,425, margin 30.8%; Q2 FY26: segment revenue 28,117, segment result 8,815, margin 31.4%; Q3 FY26: segment revenue 28,652, segment result 9,091, margin 31.7%; Q4 FY26: segment revenue 28,831, segment result 9,435, margin 32.7%. Segment revenue Segment result Segment result margin (% of segment revenue) 20,952 4,678 Q2 FY24 21,639 4,795 Q3 FY24 22,066 4,829 Q4 FY24 22,527 4,841 Q1 FY25 24,837 6,189 Q2 FY25 26,269 7,498 Q3 FY25 26,617 7,872 Q4 FY25 27,397 8,425 Q1 FY26 28,117 8,815 Q2 FY26 28,652 9,091 Q3 FY26 28,831 9,435 Q4 FY26 22.3% 22.2% 21.9% 21.5% 24.9% 28.5% 29.6% 30.8% 31.4% 31.7% 32.7%

Rs. crore; margin is segment result as a percent of segment revenue, per quarter. Revenue is the segment revenue (segment note, incl. inter-segment); profit is the segment result (profit before finance costs, charity and donation, exceptional items and tax). Shows the 11 quarters the segment's definition and disclosures allow.

Mobile Services India's margin hit yet another site-high, up 3.1 percentage points to 32.7%, extending the streak flagged every quarter since Dec-24. Africa's reported revenue growth (+41.0%) ran far ahead of its underlying constant-currency growth - the segment's own USD constant-currency revenue grew 22.3% YoY, meaning roughly half of the headline INR growth this quarter is currency translation (the rupee's ~6.2% average depreciation, plus Naira strength), not organic - a reopening of the gap flagged as "essentially closed" as recently as Mar-25, just now running in the opposite direction. Airtel Business grew revenue (+3.3%), reversing three consecutive quarters of decline tied to the deliberate commodity-voice exit - margin dipped slightly (31.3% → 30.2%) as growth resumed, a normal tradeoff after several quarters of margin expansion on a shrinking base. Digital TV's segment result worsened to -11.2% margin from roughly break-even a year ago, on a period where the year-ago comparative already includes IPTV (unlike Dec-25's transitional caveat), so this is a real deterioration, not a reporting-basis artifact - see Beyond the Usual.

Homes Services: the negative-cash-flow quarter got worse, and the strategy just changed

BHARTIARTL Homes Services: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 11 quarters (Rs. crore) BHARTIARTL Homes Services: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 11 quarters (Rs. crore). In Rs. crore, with the segment result margin as a percent of segment revenue. Q2 FY24: segment revenue 1,221, segment result 289, margin 23.7%; Q3 FY24: segment revenue 1,272, segment result 300, margin 23.6%; Q4 FY24: segment revenue 1,316, segment result 325, margin 24.7%; Q1 FY25: segment revenue 1,367, segment result 348, margin 25.5%; Q2 FY25: segment revenue 1,432, segment result 338, margin 23.6%; Q3 FY25: segment revenue 1,509, segment result 329, margin 21.8%; Q4 FY25: segment revenue 1,596, segment result 322, margin 20.2%; Q1 FY26: segment revenue 1,718, segment result 296, margin 17.2%; Q2 FY26: segment revenue 1,865, segment result 301, margin 16.2%; Q3 FY26: segment revenue 2,001, segment result 309, margin 15.4%; Q4 FY26: segment revenue 2,191, segment result 317, margin 14.5%. Segment revenue Segment result Segment result margin (% of segment revenue) 1,221 289 Q2 FY24 1,272 300 Q3 FY24 1,316 325 Q4 FY24 1,367 348 Q1 FY25 1,432 338 Q2 FY25 1,509 329 Q3 FY25 1,596 322 Q4 FY25 1,718 296 Q1 FY26 1,865 301 Q2 FY26 2,001 309 Q3 FY26 2,191 317 Q4 FY26 23.7% 23.6% 24.7% 25.5% 23.6% 21.8% 20.2% 17.2% 16.2% 15.4% 14.5%

Rs. crore; margin is segment result as a percent of segment revenue, per quarter. Revenue is the segment revenue (segment note, incl. inter-segment); profit is the segment result (profit before finance costs, charity and donation, exceptional items and tax). Shows the 11 quarters the segment's definition and disclosures allow.

Flagged first as a compressing-margin trend and then as an outright negative-OFCF quarter last time, Homes Services' capex-versus-EBITDA gap widened again this quarter: segment EBITDA of Rs1,099.7 crore against capex of Rs1,889.4 crore, a shortfall of roughly Rs789.7 crore, worse than Dec-25's Rs602.4 crore shortfall. But the more consequential development came on the call, not in the numbers: Gopal Vittal said the cost economics behind fixed wireless access (FWA) - the cheaper, faster-to-deploy alternative to fiber that Bharti "doubled down on" roughly a year ago - have "fundamentally changed in the last three to four months" as chipset and memory prices rose, and the company has "pivoted the whole company back to a dramatic obsession on fiber," rolling out digital tooling in April 2026 to stop installing FWA connections wherever fiber is already available. That's a real strategic reversal on the segment driving the most consistent margin-compression thread, worth tracking closely next quarter for whether it actually slows the net-add pace or just changes the technology mix behind the same growth number.

Mobile Services Africa

BHARTIARTL Mobile Services Africa: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 11 quarters (Rs. crore) BHARTIARTL Mobile Services Africa: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 11 quarters (Rs. crore). In Rs. crore, with the segment result margin as a percent of segment revenue. Q2 FY24: segment revenue 10,277, segment result 3,492, margin 34.0%; Q3 FY24: segment revenue 10,297, segment result 3,414, margin 33.2%; Q4 FY24: segment revenue 9,293, segment result 2,883, margin 31.0%; Q1 FY25: segment revenue 9,637, segment result 2,796, margin 29.0%; Q2 FY25: segment revenue 10,163, segment result 3,111, margin 30.6%; Q3 FY25: segment revenue 10,703, segment result 3,176, margin 29.7%; Q4 FY25: segment revenue 11,376, segment result 3,390, margin 29.8%; Q1 FY26: segment revenue 12,083, segment result 3,826, margin 31.7%; Q2 FY26: segment revenue 13,680, segment result 4,489, margin 32.8%; Q3 FY26: segment revenue 15,010, segment result 5,070, margin 33.8%; Q4 FY26: segment revenue 16,034, segment result 5,409, margin 33.7%. Segment revenue Segment result Segment result margin (% of segment revenue) 10,277 3,492 Q2 FY24 10,297 3,414 Q3 FY24 9,293 2,883 Q4 FY24 9,637 2,796 Q1 FY25 10,163 3,111 Q2 FY25 10,703 3,176 Q3 FY25 11,376 3,390 Q4 FY25 12,083 3,826 Q1 FY26 13,680 4,489 Q2 FY26 15,010 5,070 Q3 FY26 16,034 5,409 Q4 FY26 34.0% 33.2% 31.0% 29.0% 30.6% 29.7% 29.8% 31.7% 32.8% 33.8% 33.7%

Rs. crore; margin is segment result as a percent of segment revenue, per quarter. Revenue is the segment revenue (segment note, incl. inter-segment); profit is the segment result (profit before finance costs, charity and donation, exceptional items and tax). Shows the 11 quarters the segment's definition and disclosures allow.

Airtel Business

BHARTIARTL Airtel Business: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 11 quarters (Rs. crore) BHARTIARTL Airtel Business: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 11 quarters (Rs. crore). In Rs. crore, with the segment result margin as a percent of segment revenue. Q2 FY24: segment revenue 5,110, segment result 1,543, margin 30.2%; Q3 FY24: segment revenue 5,195, segment result 1,501, margin 28.9%; Q4 FY24: segment revenue 5,462, segment result 1,520, margin 27.8%; Q1 FY25: segment revenue 5,477, segment result 1,474, margin 26.9%; Q2 FY25: segment revenue 5,656, segment result 1,439, margin 25.4%; Q3 FY25: segment revenue 5,646, segment result 1,383, margin 24.5%; Q4 FY25: segment revenue 5,316, segment result 1,665, margin 31.3%; Q1 FY26: segment revenue 5,057, segment result 1,557, margin 30.8%; Q2 FY26: segment revenue 5,276, segment result 1,567, margin 29.7%; Q3 FY26: segment revenue 5,353, segment result 1,579, margin 29.5%; Q4 FY26: segment revenue 5,490, segment result 1,657, margin 30.2%. Segment revenue Segment result Segment result margin (% of segment revenue) 5,110 1,543 Q2 FY24 5,195 1,501 Q3 FY24 5,462 1,520 Q4 FY24 5,477 1,474 Q1 FY25 5,656 1,439 Q2 FY25 5,646 1,383 Q3 FY25 5,316 1,665 Q4 FY25 5,057 1,557 Q1 FY26 5,276 1,567 Q2 FY26 5,353 1,579 Q3 FY26 5,490 1,657 Q4 FY26 30.2% 28.9% 27.8% 26.9% 25.4% 24.5% 31.3% 30.8% 29.7% 29.5% 30.2%

Rs. crore; margin is segment result as a percent of segment revenue, per quarter. Revenue is the segment revenue (segment note, incl. inter-segment); profit is the segment result (profit before finance costs, charity and donation, exceptional items and tax). Shows the 11 quarters the segment's definition and disclosures allow.

Passive Infrastructure Services

BHARTIARTL Passive Infrastructure Services: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 6 quarters (Rs. crore) BHARTIARTL Passive Infrastructure Services: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 6 quarters (Rs. crore). In Rs. crore, with the segment result margin as a percent of segment revenue. Q3 FY25: segment revenue 3,529, segment result 2,784, margin 78.9%; Q4 FY25: segment revenue 7,763, segment result 2,795, margin 36.0%; Q1 FY26: segment revenue 8,091, segment result 2,763, margin 34.1%; Q2 FY26: segment revenue 8,222, segment result 2,894, margin 35.2%; Q3 FY26: segment revenue 8,180, segment result 2,805, margin 34.3%; Q4 FY26: segment revenue 8,201, segment result 2,765, margin 33.7%. Segment revenue Segment result Segment result margin (% of segment revenue) 3,529 2,784 Q3 FY25 7,763 2,795 Q4 FY25 8,091 2,763 Q1 FY26 8,222 2,894 Q2 FY26 8,180 2,805 Q3 FY26 8,201 2,765 Q4 FY26 78.9% 36.0% 34.1% 35.2% 34.3% 33.7%

Rs. crore; margin is segment result as a percent of segment revenue, per quarter. Revenue is the segment revenue (segment note, incl. inter-segment); profit is the segment result (profit before finance costs, charity and donation, exceptional items and tax). Starts at Q3 FY25: earlier periods are not comparable.

Digital TV Services

BHARTIARTL Digital TV Services: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 11 quarters (Rs. crore) BHARTIARTL Digital TV Services: segment revenue, segment result and its margin, last 11 quarters (Rs. crore). In Rs. crore, with the segment result margin as a percent of segment revenue. Q2 FY24: segment revenue 752, segment result 37, margin 5.0%; Q3 FY24: segment revenue 784, segment result 91, margin 11.6%; Q4 FY24: segment revenue 769, segment result 64, margin 8.3%; Q1 FY25: segment revenue 777, segment result 83, margin 10.7%; Q2 FY25: segment revenue 759, segment result 1, margin 0.2%; Q3 FY25: segment revenue 761, segment result 31, margin 4.1%; Q4 FY25: segment revenue 764, segment result -0, margin -0.0%; Q1 FY26: segment revenue 763, segment result 2, margin 0.3%; Q2 FY26: segment revenue 753, segment result -61, margin -8.0%; Q3 FY26: segment revenue 755, segment result -64, margin -8.4%; Q4 FY26: segment revenue 747, segment result -84, margin -11.2%. Segment revenue Segment result Segment result margin (% of segment revenue) 752 37 Q2 FY24 784 91 Q3 FY24 769 64 Q4 FY24 777 83 Q1 FY25 759 1 Q2 FY25 761 31 Q3 FY25 764 -0 Q4 FY25 763 2 Q1 FY26 753 -61 Q2 FY26 755 -64 Q3 FY26 747 -84 Q4 FY26 5.0% 11.6% 8.3% 10.7% 0.2% 4.1% -0.0% 0.3% -8.0% -8.4% -11.2%

Rs. crore; margin is segment result as a percent of segment revenue, per quarter. Revenue is the segment revenue (segment note, incl. inter-segment); profit is the segment result (profit before finance costs, charity and donation, exceptional items and tax). Shows the 11 quarters the segment's definition and disclosures allow.

Beyond the Usual

A Rs3,160.7 crore regulatory charge, and the CFO wouldn't say what it was for - twice

The quarter's exceptional item was a Rs3,160.7 crore charge that the audited results describe only as arising "based on re-assessment and updated demands received... on account of regulatory and government levies," alongside a related deferred tax asset of Rs140.2 crore and a Rs3,095.2 crore reversal of unrelated deferred tax liabilities. On the earnings call, Ambit's Vivekanand Subbaraman asked directly what the charge related to and whether there was a new government demand. CFO Soumen Ray's answer: "there is a regular cadence that we do, guided by... the auditors and by the Board and audit committee... there is nothing new, exceptional or unearthly which has come." Pressed a second time on whether this was simply a previously-disclosed contingent liability now being provided for, Ray again declined specifics: "I will not get into specific details but it is not a new thing. It was an existing thing. The interpretation of that existing thing has been changed." Both answers are consistent with routine, conservative provisioning - and nothing here suggests wrongdoing - but a charge large enough to reduce quarterly profit before tax by 24% (before the offsetting deferred-tax reversal) getting a "we follow a prudent policy" non-answer, twice, to a direct question is a real disclosure gap, not a satisfied one.

Sunil Bharti Mittal is stepping down as Airtel Africa's Chairman - and a second-generation Mittal is stepping up

Disclosed in the investor presentation's "Key Company Developments" section for Africa, not flagged anywhere in the headline commentary or the transcript's prepared remarks: Sunil Bharti Mittal informed the Board on March 25, 2026 of his intention to retire as Chair of Airtel Africa plc at the conclusion of its July 2026 AGM. Gopal Vittal - who moved from Bharti Airtel's own CEO role to Executive Vice Chairman on January 1, 2026 and has served as a non-executive director of Airtel Africa since October 2024 - will become Non-Executive Chair of Airtel Africa from the same date, under the terms of a 2019 relationship agreement between the companies and controlling shareholder Bharti Telecom. Separately, and more notably, Shravin Bharti Mittal - Sunil Bharti Mittal's son - will become Deputy Chair of Airtel Africa, the first formal group-leadership role for a second-generation Mittal. On the call, when asked directly about long-term promoter structure, Sunil Bharti Mittal himself spoke about wanting to "hand over the reins to the next generation" over "the next decade" and about consolidating Bharti Telecom's controlling stake back above 51% using dividend and eventual buyback capacity - a rare, unprompted piece of succession framing directly from the founder-chairman, worth remembering the next time capital-allocation priorities are debated on a call.

A material Africa stake-increase transaction was disclosed only in the CFO's opening remarks, not in the filed financial statements

Group CFO Soumen Ray told the call that "the Board yesterday approved a share swap transaction between Airtel and ICIL to acquire additional 16.3% in Airtel Africa," describing it as a no-cash, value-accretive deal. This is the same disclosure pattern flagged with the Indus Towers stake-increase plan in the Sep-25 post: a material stake transaction, approved by the Board the day before the earnings call, surfacing only in prepared remarks rather than in the audited results, the presentation's own developments section, or a separate filing available among this quarter's source documents. Because the Board approval came after the quarter's own balance-sheet date, its absence from the audited notes is procedurally normal - but a reader relying only on the filed numbers, rather than listening to the call itself, would have no way to know this happened at all.

Digital TV Services' segment result fell to a Rs83.6 crore loss (-11.2% margin) from roughly break-even a year ago, even though this is now the first YoY comparison where both periods include IPTV subscribers on a like-for-like basis (removing Dec-25's reporting-basis caveat) - meaning the segment's underlying DTH-plus-IPTV economics are genuinely deteriorating, not just harder to read.

Airtel announced a US$1 billion external capital raise for subsidiary Nxtra Data Limited (its data-center business), with Alpha Wave Global investing $435 million, Carlyle $240 million, and Anchorage Capital $35 million, the balance funded by Airtel itself; the company will retain a controlling stake, and the deal is subject to Indian regulatory approval. This is the first outside capital Nxtra has taken on, and is a concrete, capitalized step toward the "gigawatt" data-center ambition and 25% market-share target Vittal referenced generally on the last call without attaching numbers to it.

Airtel Africa completed the second and final tranche of its $100 million share buyback programme on March 24, 2026, purchasing a further 18.7 million shares - bringing the total programme (launched December 2024) to its full $100 million, split across two tranches of 26.3 million and 18.7 million shares. This is the same mechanical stake-creep mechanism flagged in earlier posts, now formally closed out as a completed programme rather than an ongoing one.

Management's Framing: New Growth Bets, a Bigger Dividend, and a Founder on the Call

CFO Soumen Ray opened with a full-year roundup before CEO Shashwat Sharma took the India update - the same call structure introduced last quarter under the new leadership. Ray spent unusual time on three "new growth bets" the company is now formally tracking as adjacencies: an NBFC/lending business, Airtel Cloud (24 deals closed in the year, more since), and the data-center buildout backed by the new Nxtra external funding above. He was explicit that these are still "early days" but framed them as a deliberate third leg of the portfolio alongside connectivity and Homes/B2B.

The most unusual moment on the call was Sunil Bharti Mittal himself answering a direct question about long-term promoter shareholding structure (see Beyond the Usual) - a level of personal, on-the-record succession and capital-structure commentary from the founder-chairman. On capital allocation more broadly, Vittal again declined to commit to a specific payout ratio when Goldman Sachs' Manish Adukia noted the dividend (still under 40% of trailing free cash flow) leaves room to do more, instead repeating the same three "ports of call" - core business investment, deleveraging, and adjacencies - named on the last call without a formal framework attached to any of them.

The Stock Fell 15.3% This Quarter, and Rose 45.2% Over Two Years

Bharti Airtel's shares closed at Rs1,784 on the BSE on March 31, 2026, per the company's own disclosed closing price - down 15.3% from the Rs2,106 close on December 31, 2025 covered in the last post, reversing that quarter's gain. This is a real move worth naming plainly: the stock fell sharply in a quarter where EBITDA grew 17.7% to a fresh margin high, capex-adjusted cash flow improved, and net debt fell - the closest thing to a genuine "market ignoring good fundamentals" moment for BHARTIARTL to date, and one this post can't fully explain from the source documents alone (no single catalyst was named on the call). Zooming out, the stock is up roughly 45.2% over the two years to March 31, 2026 (from about Rs1,228.60 on March 28, 2024, independently sourced - the last trading day of that month), a much smaller two-year gain than Dec-25's roughly 104.0% figure, reflecting both this quarter's decline and the two-year window itself rolling forward past some of 2024's biggest gains. No stock split falls within the two-year price window used here (the company's last was a 2-for-1 split in July 2009), so no split adjustment is needed for either price.

Target Valuation Range

Bharti Airtel got cheaper on every multiple this quarter - EV/EBITDA 9.77x (from 11.64x), P/B 7.29x (from 9.66x), trailing P/E 38.83x (from 39.65x) - but no peer multiples are on the page, so it is too early to call against peers. Enterprise value fell to Rs1,252,200 crore from Rs1,449,700 crore, and unlike some past valuation moves this one looks real rather than mechanical.

Market cap → enterprise value Q3 FY26 Q4 FY26
Market capitalization Rs1,267,100 crore Rs1,087,400 crore (~$114.9 billion)
Book value/share Rs215.16 Rs244.60
Enterprise value Rs1,449,700 crore Rs1,252,200 crore (~$132.3 billion)
Peer-multiple sanity check Q3 FY26 Q4 FY26
Trailing P/E 39.65x 38.83x (company-reported; still elevated because trailing EPS carries this quarter's own depressed net income rather than reflecting a real re-rating)
P/B 9.66x 7.29x (company-reported, Market Price/Book Value; down sharply on both a falling share price and a book value inflated by the rights-issue capital call landing directly in equity)
EV/EBITDA 11.64x 9.77x (company-reported; a genuine cheapening since EBITDA kept growing while enterprise value fell)

Market capitalization is company-reported as of March 31, 2026 (point-in-time); the share count behind it is not separately stated in this section. The company-reported enterprise value here is market capitalization plus net debt and does not add non-controlling interests (Rs46,907 crore at March 31, 2026), although EBITDA is consolidated; adding them would put EV/EBITDA at about 10.14x instead of 9.77x.

The honest read this quarter: a business growing EBITDA in the high teens and holding net debt/EBITDA near a multi-year low of 1.29x has not become expensive on these numbers. The cheapening lines up with the price decline covered above rather than contradicting it, which is at least an internally consistent signal, even without a single named catalyst to explain it.

Bharti Airtel Limited's audited consolidated and standalone financial results, segment note, balance sheet, cash flow statement, and notes to the financial results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2026 (approved by the Board of Directors May 13, 2026); the company's Q4 FY26 investor presentation, which also includes region-wise and segment-wise investment/contribution detail, operating highlights, and stock market highlights; and the transcript of the Bharti Airtel and Bharti Hexacom Q4 FY26 earnings webinar, held May 14, 2026. Share-price data from independent market-data sources, used for the stock-price comparisons only, not as a source for any company financial figure.