Bharti Airtel drops 4% after 51.3 million shares trade in block deals

Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd. fell nearly 4 per cent on Friday after a large trade, representing about 51.3 million shares, changed hands during the market opening. 

 

The telecom major's stock fell as much as 3.7 per cent during the day to ₹2,017.5 per share, the biggest intraday fall since April 7 this year. The Bharti Airtel stock pared losses to trade 3.1 per cent lower at ₹2,025 apiece, compared to a 0.65 per cent decline in Nifty 50 as of 9:22 AM. 

 

Shares of the company fell for the second straight session and currently trade at 2.2 times the average 30-day trading volume, according to Bloomberg. The counter has risen 27.5 per cent this year, compared to a 7.1 per cent advance in the benchmark Nifty 50. Bharti Airtel has a total market capitalisation of ₹11.50 trillion.   READ LATEST STOCK MARKET UPDATES LIVE

Bharti Airtel block trades 

About 51.3 million shares, or 0.9 per cent stake, of Bharti Airtel changed hands for about ₹10,450 crore in two block trades on NSE, according to Bloomberg. About 40.9 million shares changed hands in one block for 2,038.9, while another 10.4 million shares changed hands at 2,035.1 per share. 

 

Earlier, Business Standard reported that Pastel, a promoter group entity owned by Singapore’s Singtel, planned to sell shares of Bharti Airtel worth up to ₹10,300 crore through block deals, citing a term sheet. JP Morgan India is the sole bookrunner for the deal, the report said. 

 

In May, Pastel sold about 1.2 per cent of its stake in Airtel for roughly $1.54 billion. That transaction involved the sale of 71 million shares at Rs 1,814 apiece, reducing Singtel’s stake in Airtel from 29.5 per cent to 28.3 per cent. In an exchange filing in May, the Singapore-headquartered telecom operator had said the sale was part of its active capital management approach to optimise its asset portfolio and drive sustainable shareholder returns.

 

As of the September quarter, Pastel held an 8.32 per cent stake or 507.2 million shares in the telecom company, according to data available on exchanges.    ALSO READ | Zydus Life Q2: Solid beat on bottom line, analysts mixed on growth outlook

Bharti Airtel Q2 results

Bharti Airtel reported an over two-fold jump in consolidated net profit at ₹8,651 crore for the second quarter of the financial year 2026 (Q2FY26), on the back of continued premiumisation in the mobile phone segment and record customer additions in the broadband business. The company had reported a profit of ₹4,153 crore in the same quarter of FY25. 

 

The consolidated revenue of the firm for the second quarter came in at ₹52,145 crore, up 25.7 per cent year-on-year, driven by strong momentum in both India and Africa.