Bharti Airtel hits over 4-month low, down 2%; what's making Street nervous?

Investing in the NBFC business is non-core to the telecom business, hence, analysts may consider it a slight negative from a capital allocation perspective.

Bharti Airtel share price today

 

The share price of Bharti Airtel hit an over four-month low of ₹1,890.20, falling 2 per cent on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade amid heavy volumes. In the past four trading days, the stock has declined 5.4 per cent. Currently, the stock price of the telecom services provider quotes at its lowest level since October 6, 2025. 

At 10:35 AM; Bharti Airtel stock was quoting 1.6 per cent lower at ₹1,898.40, compared to the 0.53 per cent decline in the BSE Sensex at 81,814. Average trading volumes at the counter jumped nearly two-fold, with a combined 2.04 million shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE.  FOLLOW LATEST STOCK MARKET UPDATES LIVE

 

What’s making the Street nervous?

On Monday, February 23, 2026, Bharti Airtel announced plans to build a large-scale non-banking finance company (NBFC) platform through its subsidiary Airtel Money. This platform will be capitalised with ₹20,000 crore over the next few years, with Airtel contributing 70 per cent and Bharti Enterprises 30 per cent. 

Airtel Money received its NBFC license from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on February 13, 2026.\ 

Bharti Airtel now plans to move from just being a marketplace (LSP) to a direct lender using its own proprietary data analytics engine to lend to its subscribers via its Airtel Thanks app. Bharti management believes this is a natural adjacency that will leverage its large +370mn customer base, data science, and customer understanding to build the next growth engine for the company and further diversify its portfolio. 

Bharti has tied up other NBFCs to build a lending platform leveraging it’s +370mn subs base with ₹9,000 crore cumulative disbursements. It now plans to make a strategic shift from just being a marketplace to direct lending using proprietary data analytics, according to analysts at JM Financial Institutional Securities. 

Investing in the NBFC business is non-core for the telecom business, hence, it may be considered slight negative from a capital allocation perspective. But the quantum of equity infusion of ₹14,000 crore over the next few years is small given Bharti’s potential consolidated free cash flow (FCF) of ₹60,000 crore-₹70,000 crore p.a.; and current market cap of around ₹12 trillion, the brokerage firm said. It retains ‘Buy’ rating on Bharti Airtel with a target price of ₹2,455.  READ | JM Financial initiates 'Buy' on Physicswallah, sees 23% upside

Brokerages view on Bharti Airtel post Q3 results

Bharti Airtel continues to maintain its relative strength among peers in a consolidated industry. With a formidable digital ecosystem offering and overall efforts through premiumisation and higher wallet share, the industry leading Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), wireless margins and cash flows are reflective of the same. Analysts at ICICI Securities post Q3 earnings said that they remain constructive on Airtel and maintain 'Buy' rating on the stock with SOTP based target price of ₹2450/share. 

On the capex front, Bharti Airtel’s wireless business will moderate, since the bulk of the 5G rollout is now completed. Future Capex will be inclined towards transport infrastructure, fibre, enterprise investments, and scaling of home broadband services. 

Airtel, through its subsidiary Nextra, announced a partnership with Google to build a 1GW data centre, while Airtel Business secured a multi-year contract from Indian Railway Security Operations Centre (IRSOC) to deliver comprehensive, industry-leading security services to safeguard the digital backbone of India’s railway network. The company entered into a strategic partnership with IBM to augment its recently launched Airtel Cloud. 

From a long-term perspective, Bharti Airtel remains well-positioned for sustainable growth, backed by its strong digital services portfolio, disciplined capital management, and focus on high-value customer segments. The company expects gradual ARPU improvement, 4G/5G expansion, and B2B growth to drive long-term profitability. We remain optimistic about its future growth, analysts at Axis Securities said. The brokerage firm has a ‘Buy’ rating on the stock with a target price of ₹2,530.  ===================================  Disclaimer: View and outlook shared on the stock belong to the respective brokerages and are not endorsed by Business Standard. Readers discretion is advised.