Bharti Airtel Down 3% After Promoter Offloads 0.8% Stake

Shares of Bharti Airtel plunged by about 3% in today’s trading session after a promoter group entity sold 0.8% stake in the telecom operator worth ₹9,300 crore. The stock fell by 2.89% to hit the intraday low of ₹1,868.70 on BSE. As of 9:22 am, it raked in a cash turnover of ₹14,001 crore on NSE, while clocking a turnover of ₹2,143.35 crore on BSE.

The block deal was led by Sunil Mittal’s promoter group entity Indian Continent Investment Ltd (ICIL), which was looking forward to offload 5 crore shares at a floor price of ₹1,862 per share with a discount of 3% to Thursday’s closing price of ₹1,922.60, Business Today reported.

Following the stake sale, ICIL’s holding in Bharti Airtel fell to ₹1.67% from 2.47%. Notably, the promoter’s stake in Bharti Airtel would stay at over 51%. As per the documents accessed by Business Today, Jefferies and JP Morgan served as bankers and advisors to the block deal.

This is ICIL’s second major stake sale in the past year. In February 2025, the company sold 0.84% stake in Bharti Airtel, raising ₹8,485 crore.

Bharti Airtel posted strong results in Q1FY26, buoyed by healthy earnings in domestic wireless segments and Airtel Africa operations. “We continue to favour Bharti’s strong execution of its premiumisation strategy. Additionally, with a likely reduction in capex intensity and potential tariff hikes, the company is poised to generate healthy free cash flows,” said Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL).

JM Financial observed that the monetisation of 5G services and the rollout of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) have paved the way for a bullish long-term outlook.

Expressing optimism, Axis Securities said, “Over the long term, we expect Bharti Airtel to continue expanding its market share, supported by leading penetration levels and minimal capex needs. Its strong digital portfolio, increasing data consumption per user, and growth across business segments reinforce our positive view. We maintain our BUY rating on the stock.”