BHARTIARTL

Yesterday evening, after markets closed, Bharti Airtel dropped one of the cleanest sets of numbers in this entire Q1 FY27 results season. Consolidated net profit rose 37.3 per cent year on year to Rs 8,167 crore. Revenue from operations jumped 18.4 per cent to Rs 58,539 crore — beating street estimates. EBITDA came in at Rs 33,599 crore with a margin of 57.4 per cent. Customer base crossed 681 million across 15 countries, with 14.9 million net additions in just one quarter. India ARPU climbed to Rs 264 from Rs 250 a year ago — a 5.6 per cent improvement that reflects disciplined portfolio premiumisation rather than just subscriber additions. A year-on-year comparison with the same quarter last year makes the growth even clearer. Q1 FY24 net profit was Rs 1,612 crore at an ARPU of Rs 200. Q1 FY26 profit was Rs 5,948 crore. Q1 FY27 is now Rs 8,167 crore. That is a five-fold increase in net profit over three years, with ARPU rising 32 per cent in the same window — a compounding story that very few large-cap names on the Nifty can match. The one miss: profit came in slightly below Bloomberg consensus estimates despite the revenue beat, with higher depreciation from accelerated 5G capex weighing on the bottom line. Consolidated capex for Q1 FY27 stood at Rs 13,386 crore — a deliberate investment in network quality that management has consistently flagged as a medium-term margin drag but a long-term competitive moat. With a market cap of Rs 12.29 lakh crore and GIFT Nifty pointing to a positive open today, how Airtel stock reacts to these numbers in early trade will be the first live verdict on a strong but slightly below-estimate quarter.