Bharti Airtel is 4th company in India to hit a market cap of Rs 10 trillion

Airtel now 5th most valuable telecom operator globally valued at $118.3 billion

Bharti Airtel’s share price and market capitalisation continue to scale new heights even as rival Vodafone Idea saw a sharp decline in its scrip after the latest Supreme Court’s ruling on adjusted gross revenues.

Bharti Airtel’s market capitalisation crossed Rs 10 trillion for the first time during intraday trade on Thursday.

At the end of the session, the company’s market capitalisation was Rs 9.98 trillion, up 0.8 per cent from the day before.

The figures include the market capitalisation of Bharti Airtel’s partly paid shares. The company’s fully paid shares were up 0.75 per cent on Wednesday while its partly paid shares closed with gains of 1.45 per cent.

Reliance Industries, owner of Reliance Jio, which has a bigger subscriber base than Bharti Airtel, was up 0.45 per cent on Wednesday.

In comparison, Vodafone Idea was down 19.6 per cent on Thursday while Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) lost 1.4 per cent.

Bharti Airtel is the fourth company to cross Rs 10 trillion in market capitalisation. It comes after Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, and HDFC Bank.

It is ahead of ICICI Bank, Infosys, and State Bank of India.

Bharti Airtel is now the fifth-most valuable telecom operator globally with a market capitalisation of $118.3 billion -- behind Deutsche Telecom ($145.6 billion) and AT&T Inc ($155.8 billion).

T-Mobile US Inc tops the league table with $229.5 billion, followed by China Mobile at $202.4 billion and Verizon Communications at $184.7 billion.

Bharti Airtel is 21st-biggest telecom operator in terms of annual revenue. Similarly, it is the world’s 22nd-most profitable operator. Bharti Airtel reported consolidated revenues and net profit of $18.2 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively, on a trailing 12-month basis in June this year.

China Mobile tops the charts with revenues and profits of $142 billion and $18.8 billion, respectively, on a trailing 12-month basis.

Bharti Airtel comes on top in valuation with a trailing price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 98.3X and a price-to-book value ratio of 9.3X. For comparison, China Mobile is trading at a P/E of 10X while T-Mobile US Inc at 24.3X.