Bharti Airtel's consolidated net profit drops 72% to Rs 86 cr in Q3

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday reported a 72 per cent drop in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 2018 at about Rs 86 crore from Rs 306 crore, posted in the same period of the last financial year (2017-18). 

The telco’s close shave with net loss was saved by deconsolidation of Airtel Payments Bank worth Rs 1,017 crore.

Brokerage firms had expected a net loss of about Rs 1,000 crore for the second-largest telecom operator. Motilal Oswal Securities had anticipated a loss of Rs 520 crore for the operator. Kotak Securities had projected Airtel’s quarterly loss at