Bharti Airtel shares slip 4% amid Singtel block deal worth Rs 10,300 crore

Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd fell 4.63 per cent in Friday's trade to hit a low of Rs 1,997.60 after a large block deal took place on the exchanges. According to reports, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd's (Singtel) subsidiary Pastel Ltd offloaded about 0.8 per cent stake in the telecom major through a deal valued at around Rs 10,300 crore. The floor price for the transaction was set at Rs 2,030 per share and JPMorgan acted as the broker.

As per deal data, Pastel sold around 5.1 crore shares of Bharti Airtel. The divestment is part of Singtel's ongoing capital management strategy to optimise its portfolio and enhance shareholder returns.

Earlier in May 2025, the company had sold a 1.2 per cent direct stake in Airtel for S$2 billion (around $1.5 billion) through a private placement to international and Indian institutional investors, including existing Airtel shareholders.

On the operational front, Airtel reported an 89.02 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 6,791.7 crore for the July–September quarter (Q2 FY26), compared with Rs 3,593.2 crore a year ago. Consolidated revenue grew 25.7 per cent YoY to Rs 52,145 crore.

EBITDA rose 35.9 per cent YoY to Rs 29,919 crore, with the margin improving to 57.4 per cent, while EBIT increased 51.6 per cent YoY to Rs 16,669 crore, reflecting a 32 per cent margin. The company’s capital expenditure during the quarter stood at Rs 11,362 crore.

Airtel's total customer base reached 62.4 crore across 15 countries. Its average revenue per user (ARPU) rose to Rs 256 from Rs 233 in Q2 FY25, and mobile data usage jumped 26.6 per cent YoY, with average monthly consumption climbing to 28.3 GB per user.