Bharti Airtel Q4 profit surges nearly five-fold to Rs 11,022 crore on tariff hike, tax gains

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a sharp jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 11,022 crore for the January–March 2025 quarter, marking a nearly five-fold increase from Rs 2,071.6 crore in the same period a year earlier.The strong performance was driven by the benefits of a tariff hike and a one-time tax gain.The telecom major received favourable orders in certain tax-related matters during the quarter, resulting in a one-time tax benefit of approximately Rs 5,913 crore, as reported by news agency PTI.Total revenue from operations rose 27 per cent year-on-year to Rs 47,876.2 crore in Q4 FY25, up from Rs 37,599.1 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, the company said in a regulatory filing.Bharti Airtel’s India standalone revenue for the quarter climbed 15 per cent year-on-year to Rs 36,735 crore, compared with Rs 31,851.5 crore in Q4 FY24. The company attributed the robust growth to the tariff hikes implemented in July 2024.“India revenues for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2025 at Rs 36,735 crore increased by 28.8 per cent YoY. Mobile revenues grew 20.6 per cent YoY, led by tariff repair and our relentless focus on premiumise the portfolio and winning quality customers,” the company said in a statement.The average revenue per user (ARPU), a key performance metric in the telecom sector, increased nearly 17 per cent to Rs 245 from Rs 209 a year ago.“India Mobile business grew by 1.3 per cent sequentially, despite having two less days in the quarter. Growth was driven by premiumisation. We added 6.6 million smartphone users and maintained an industry-leading ARPU of Rs 245,” said Gopal Vittal, Bharti Airtel’s vice-chairman and managing director.The company’s India mobile subscriber base reached 42.4 crore during the March quarter, while the total customer base across 15 countries stood at around 59 crore. The number of smartphone users on Airtel’s network increased by 2.4 crore year-on-year and now represents 77 per cent of the mobile customer base. Average monthly mobile data consumption rose 21.2 per cent to 25.1 GB.For the full financial year ended March 31, 2025, Bharti Airtel reported a nearly four-fold rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 33,556 crore, compared to Rs 7,467 crore in FY24. Annual revenue from operations grew 15.33 per cent to Rs 1,72,985.2 crore, up from Rs 1,49,982.4 crore in the previous fiscal.However, the company’s net debt rose to Rs 2.03 lakh crore at the end of the March quarter, compared to Rs 1.94 lakh crore a year ago.Bharti Airtel’s consolidated capital expenditure for the quarter was Rs 14,401 crore, with Rs 12,553 crore allocated to its India operations.“During the quarter, we installed approximately 3,300 additional towers and 13,600 mobile broadband stations to expand our network footprint and enhance customer experience nationwide. Our dedication to providing an excellent network experience is evident in our investments, as we have added approximately 19,900 towers YoY and deployed 44,400 kilometres of fibre YoY,” the company said.For the full fiscal year, capex in India stood at Rs 33,242 crore.