Bharti Airtel has climbed past Jio Platforms to become India’s second most valuable listed company, just over a week after Reliance’s telecom and digital arm made its stock market debut.
Airtel’s shares rose about 2.45% on 6 November to close at ₹2,107.20 on the National Stock Exchange, lifting its market value to roughly ₹13.15 lakh crore. That put it ahead of Jio Platforms at about ₹12.95 lakh crore, and behind only Reliance Industries, which is valued at around ₹17.86 lakh crore. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank followed in fourth and fifth place.
Jio Platforms listed on 28 October after an IPO that raised about ₹30,213 crore. Its slip to third place is less a sign of weakness than a reflection of how investors reacted to Airtel’s latest numbers.
Higher earnings per customer
The rally came a day after Airtel reported results for the July–September quarter. Consolidated net profit rose 31% from a year earlier to about ₹8,888 crore, while revenue grew 16.7% to ₹60,878 crore. Its India mobile business grew revenue by about 10%, and operating profit, measured as EBITDA, rose nearly 18% with a margin close to 58%.
The figure investors watch most closely is average revenue per user, or ARPU. Airtel’s rose to ₹271, from ₹256 a year earlier. Jio’s stands at about ₹219, though Jio has more mobile subscribers, at roughly 54 crore against Airtel’s 50 crore, and twice as many fixed broadband customers. Jio also carries far less debt and reported a higher profit margin.
Citi Research, which rates Airtel a buy, said the company’s mobile revenue and operating profit beat its estimates and pointed to better monetisation of customers. It flagged that subscriber growth slowed after Airtel withdrew its ₹299 entry-level prepaid plan, which pushed up churn. The plan has since returned with a smaller daily data allowance. Citi expects further ARPU gains from tariff increases, wider 4G and 5G use and more customers moving to postpaid, while warning of risks from competition, delays in price rises and heavier capital spending.
What it means for Bangladesh
The Indian market is sending a clear message: telecom investors now reward revenue per customer more than raw subscriber numbers. Airtel has fewer users than Jio, yet the market values it more because each user brings in more money and the company has shown it can raise prices.
That argument is familiar in Dhaka. Bangladeshi operators have long complained that their revenue per user is among the lowest in the region, held down by intense price competition, high spectrum costs and heavy taxation. Bharti Airtel is also a shareholder in Robi Axiata, so its strategy of steady tariff increases and upselling data is well understood within the local industry.
The contrast is also a reminder of what a deep capital market can do. Jio could raise tens of thousands of crores from public investors, while Bangladesh’s listed telecom companies operate in a far smaller, more cautious market. If local operators are to fund 5G and fibre expansion, they will need both healthier ARPU and investors willing to back long-term network spending, which depends as much on stable regulation as on the operators themselves.
