Telecom titan Sunil Bharti Mittal has unveiled ambitious plans for Bharti Airtel’s future, including a leadership transition to his children within a decade and a strategic move for promoter firm Bharti Telecom to reclaim a majority 51% stake in the company.
Photograph: Ruben Spinch/Reuters
Key Points
- Sunil Bharti Mittal intends to transition Bharti Airtel’s leadership to his children within the next decade.
- Mittal aims for Bharti Telecom, the promoter firm, to regain a controlling shareholding of 51% or just over 50% in Airtel.
- Achieving a 10% increase in Bharti Telecom’s stake would require approximately Rs 1 lakh crore based on current market valuation.
- The stake increase is projected to occur over the next 3-4 years, contingent on Airtel’s performance and cash generation.
- Mittal has been reappointed as Chairman for another five years until September 30, 2031.
Telecom czar Sunil Bharti Mittal plans to hand over the reins of Bharti Airtel to his children in the next decade and desires that promoter firm Bharti Telecom regains over 50 per cent stake in the company.
Owned by the Mittal family and Singtel Group, Bharti Telecom at present holds 40.47 per cent stake in Airtel.
The promoter firms, including Bharti Telecom, the Mittal family holding firm Indian Continent Investment, the Singtel Group firm Pastel, and others jointly hold a 48.87 per cent stake in Airtel.
Succession and Stake Reacquisition Goals
“My own wish is that in the next – I know it’s hard to put in years on it – decade as I kind of come to a point where I hand over the reins to the next generation as shareholders, Bharti Telecom should get back to controlling shareholding of 51 per cent or just over 50 per cent,” Mittal said.
Mittal, during Bharti Airtel’s Q4 earnings call on Thursday, said in order to raise Bharti Telecom’s stake by 10 per cent in Airtel, a good amount of cash in hand is needed. It would require an investment of Rs 1 lakh crore based on present share price and market capitalisation of the company.
Bharti Enterprises Holding has a 50.56 per cent stake and Singtel a 49.44 per cent stake in Bharti Telecom.
“You know, basically the belief remains that you must have everything through one company that should be the controlling, promoting shareholder. Bharti Telecom, as you know, historically has not only been the founding promoter of this company (but has also) had almost always for a long period of time, a controlling shareholding of 51 per cent,” Mittal said.
Path to Increased Shareholding
Mittal said that the shareholding in Airtel can be raised in next 3-4 years, depending on the performance of the company driven by top executives handling day-to-day operations.
Singtel has around a 7 per cent direct stake in Bharti Airtel.
“To put a bit more granular sort of angle, Singtel has a 7 per cent direct stake in Airtel and it had about 6 per cent to equalise. Now with this transaction, once this is done and shares are issued, the gap will come down to 3.6 per cent (for a target of 51 per cent). We should see an overall gap dramatically reducing, and Singtel, which has been on the path of selling down its direct stake, has to sell now much less than earlier,” he said.
Assuming a next 3-4 year timeframe for acquiring a 3.6 per cent balance stake in Airtel, Mittal said that it will depend on the performance of Airtel executive leadership on executing share buybacks, giving out more dividends and generating cash flow to put more cash in hand for Bharti Telecom to achieve the target.
Mittal’s Reappointment and Company Performance
Mittal – whose current term as the company Chairman was due to expire on September 30 – has been reappointed for five years till September 30, 2031. Mittal founded Bharti Group in 1976. The group has grown since then to multiple segments, including telecom, space communications, digital infrastructure, and financial services, among others.
Bharti Airtel on Wednesday posted a 33.5 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 7,325 crore for March 2026 quarter, mainly due to one-time provisions related to statutory and tax liabilities.
The company’s annual revenue for the first time crossed Rs 2 lakh crore, driven by 3.2 per cent customer growth to 66.5 crore, coupled with an increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) in India.
