Bharti Airtel Reports Rs 86 Crore Profit For October-December

Bharti Airtel posted a nearly 72 per cent fall in quarterly profit on Thursday, its 11th straight profit decline on a year-on-year basis, as the telecoms bellwether suffered from continuing pricing pressure. The deflated results come in at a time when the country's telecoms industry is still reeling from the impact of a price war which began after the entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm, owned by the country's richest man, Mukesh Ambani.

The shake up resulted in industry consolidation such as London-based Vodafone Plc merging its Indian operations with Idea Cellular in a deal worth $23 billion.

Net profit for the three months through December 31 was Rs 86.2 crore ($12.13 million) compared with a profit of Rs 306 crore in the year-earlier quarter.

The company reported a one-off gain of Rs 1,414 crore during the quarter, which included gains due to deconsolidation of its payments bank unit.

That compared with analyst estimates of a loss of Rs 686 crore, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

Revenue rose about 1 per cent to Rs 20,519 crore.

Earlier this month, Jio reported a 65 per cent rise in quarterly profit.

Airtel shares closed 0.72 per cent higher at Rs 305.90 on the NSE ahead of the earnings announcement.