Bharti Airtel profit tanks 31% on Nigerian Naira woes

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday posted a 31 per cent drop in consolidated profit to Rs 2,072 crore in the March quarter mainly due to devaluation of the Nigerian Naira.

The company had registered a profit of Rs 3,005.6 crore in the year-ago period.

The consolidated revenue of operations increased 4.4 per cent to Rs 37,599.1 crore during the quarter under review from Rs 36,009 crore a year earlier.

"Consolidated performance was impacted primarily by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira.

"We added 7.8 million smartphone customers and delivered an industry leading ARPU of Rs 209," Bharti Airtel managing director Gopal Vittal said.

Airtel suffered a forex loss of Rs 2,544.4 crore on account of currency devaluation.

During the reported quarter, the company acquired a 97.12 per cent stake in Beetel Teletech for Rs 658 crore.

For the year ended March 31, 2024, Bharti Airtel's profit dropped 10.5 per cent to Rs 7,467 crore.

The annual revenue from operations of the company rose 7.7 per cent to Rs 1,49,982.4 crore during the reported fiscal from Rs 1,39,144.8 crore in 2022-23.