Bharti Enterprises

In 1976, Sunil Bharti Mittal borrowed Rs 20,000 from his father and set up a small bicycle components unit in Ludhiana, Punjab, the starting point of Bharti. Within three years, he added units making yarn and stainless steel sheets for surgical equipment.⁠[1][2][2][1]

In 1980, Mittal sold the bicycle components and yarn businesses, moved to Mumbai, and became a trader of imported goods such as stainless steel, brass, plastics, and zip fasteners; the group set up Bharti Overseas Trading Corporation in the same period. He then partnered with Suzuki of Japan to import and distribute portable generators, and by 1984 Bharti was the largest importer of portable generators in India. In 1983, the Indian government granted licenses to make generators domestically to the Birla and Shriram families, and the import business suffered as a result.⁠[2][1][1][2][2]

Between 1985 and 1988, Bharti entered the telecom sector with Bharti Telecom, entering a technical tie-up with Siemens AG of Germany to manufacture electronic push-button telephones in Gurgaon, and said it was the first company in India to do so; the Ludhiana factory also began manufacturing push-button phones. Earlier, after seeing push-button phones at a trade fair in Taiwan, Mittal had imported components and assembled them in Ludhiana under the German-sounding brand name Mittbrau, later switching to the Beetel brand. In the same period, the group also manufactured empty hard gelatin capsules through Bharti Healthcare.⁠[1][1][2][2][2][1]

In 1989, Bharti partnered with Takacom Corporation of Japan to manufacture telephone answering machines; in 1990, with Lucky Gold Star of South Korea to manufacture cordless telephones; and in 1991, it signed an OEM contract with Sprint of the United States to manufacture and export telephone sets.⁠[1][1][1]

In 1992, Bharti Cellular Ltd. was formed, and Bharti formed a consortium with SFR of France, Emtel of Mauritius, and MSI of the UK to bid for mobile service licenses in India’s metros.⁠[1]

In 1994, Bharti won a GSM mobile service license for Delhi NCR.⁠[1]

In 1995, Bharti launched Delhi’s first GSM mobile service under the Airtel brand, and Bharti Tele-Ventures was incorporated in the same year. Bharti also formed a consortium with Telecom Italia to bid for cellular and fixed-line licenses, and partnered with Siemens to market telephone terminals under the SIEMENS and BEETEL brand names.⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

In 1997, British Telecom acquired an equity interest in Bharti Cellular, and then held a 21% stake in Bharti Airtel along with two board seats until 2001. In the same year, Airtel became the first mobile operator in India to pass 100,000 customers, and Bharti won a fixed-line license for Madhya Pradesh, becoming the first private company in India to win a fixed-line license.⁠[1][3][1][1]

In 1998, Bharti launched mobile services in Seychelles, becoming the first Indian company to offer telecom services overseas, and launched India’s first private fixed-line service in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.⁠[1][1]

In 2000, Bharti formed a strategic partnership with the Singapore telecom operator Singtel, which invested $400 million in Bharti; the two also announced a partnership to build an undersea optical fiber cable between India and Singapore.⁠[1][1]

In 2001, Bharti won mobile licenses in 8 telecom circles and fixed-line licenses in 4 circles, and acquired British Telecom’s equity interests in Bharti Cellular, Bharti BT, and Bharti BT Internet.⁠[1][1]

On February 18, 2002, Bharti completed India’s first 100% book-building issue and was listed on the National Stock Exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange, and the Delhi Stock Exchange. In the same year, Bharti became India’s first private telecom operator to launch international long-distance services.⁠[1][1]

In 2004, Bharti signed a 10-year comprehensive IT outsourcing deal with IBM and handed management of its mobile network to Ericsson and Nokia; that year its annual revenue exceeded $1 billion and its profit exceeded $150 million. In the same year, Bharti Televentures brought all of its telecom services under the Airtel brand.⁠[1][1][1][1]

In 2005, Bharti became India’s first mobile operator to cover all 23 telecom circles; Vodafone acquired a 10% equity interest in Bharti for $1.5 billion. In the same year, Bharti formed a life insurance joint venture with AXA of France, entering financial services.⁠[1][1][1]

In 2006, Bharti Televentures was renamed Bharti Airtel; Bharti and Wal-Mart signed a memorandum of understanding to explore cooperating in retail in India; and Bharti and its associates committed a corpus of Rs 200 crore to the Bharti Foundation to provide education to underprivileged children in rural areas.⁠[1][1][1]

In 2007, Bharti passed 50 million customers and joined the world’s top five mobile operators; formed the independent tower company Indus Towers with Idea and Vodafone; formed the wholesale joint venture Bharti Wal-Mart Private Limited with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; brought in Del Monte as a strategic partner in FieldFresh; and formed general insurance and asset management joint ventures with AXA. In the same year, founder Sunil Bharti Mittal was awarded the Padma Bhushan.⁠[1][1][1][1][1][1]

In 2010, Bharti Airtel acquired Zain’s mobile operations in 15 African countries, becoming the world’s fifth-largest mobile operator, and acquired a 70% stake in Warid Telecom in Bangladesh; in the same year, it unveiled a new global brand identity, “airtel.”⁠[1][1][1]

In 2012, Airtel launched India’s first 4G service in Kolkata, and Bharti Airtel’s combined mobile, fixed-line, and DTH customers in India passed 200 million; Bharti and Qualcomm announced a 4G partnership.⁠[1][1][1]

On June 25, 2015, Bharti announced that it had acquired a strategic minority stake in the low-earth-orbit satellite broadband company OneWeb through a global subsidiary, gaining a board seat as one of its founding members; Bharti Airtel would be a preferred distributor of OneWeb’s service in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Africa.⁠[4][4][4][4]

In 2017, Bharti Airtel acquired Telenor’s India business and Tikona Networks’ 4G business, and Tata and Bharti announced the combination of their consumer telecom businesses; Airtel Payments Bank began national operations. In the same year, the Bharti family pledged 10% of its wealth (approximately Rs 7,000 crore) to philanthropy.⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

In 2018, Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers announced a merger to create a listed pan-India tower company. As of June 30, 2026, the merged Indus Towers Limited had over 267,000 towers, with leading customers including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Reliance Jio.⁠[1][5][5]

In 2019, Airtel Africa listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.⁠[1]

On July 3, 2020, Bharti announced that a consortium led by Bharti, with UK government participation, had won the bid for OneWeb. The deal closed on November 20, 2020, when OneWeb emerged from U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; the UK government and Bharti Global together invested $1 billion of new equity, and Sunil Bharti Mittal became OneWeb’s executive chairman.⁠[6][7][7][7]

On June 29, 2021, Bharti Global exercised a call option under the shareholders’ agreement to invest an additional $500 million in OneWeb, bringing OneWeb’s total equity funding to $2.4 billion.⁠[8][8]

On January 5, 2022, Bharti Airtel and Hughes Communications India, a Hughes Network Systems company, announced the formation of a joint venture combining their VSAT businesses in India to provide satellite broadband services to enterprise and government customers; the agreement had been announced in May 2019.⁠[9][9][9][9]

On September 28, 2023, Eutelsat and OneWeb completed their all-share combination, and Bharti became the largest shareholder of the combined company with a 21.2% stake; Sunil Bharti Mittal became co-chair of the Eutelsat board, and Shravin Bharti Mittal became a director. As of June 30, 2025, Bharti Space Ltd held 24.09% of Eutelsat’s shares and voting rights.⁠[10][10][10][11]

On August 12, 2024, Bharti Global, Bharti’s international investment platform, announced that it would acquire about 24.5% of BT Group’s issued share capital from Altice UK through its wholly owned company Bharti Televentures UK Ltd: about 9.99% immediately, with the remaining about 14.51% to be acquired after regulatory clearances; Bharti said the investment was not connected to Bharti Airtel or its subsidiaries. On December 16, 2024, the UK government made a Final Order on the acquisition under the National Security and Investment Act 2021.⁠[3][3][3][3][12]

On February 6, 2025, Agro Tech Foods Limited completed its all-share acquisition of Del Monte Foods Private Limited, and Bharti became the second-largest shareholder of Agro Tech Foods through a preferential allotment, with a stake of about 21%.⁠[13][13]

On March 11, 2025, Airtel announced an agreement with SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed internet services to its customers in India; the agreement was subject to SpaceX receiving authorizations to sell Starlink in India and was a new satellite partnership in addition to its existing alliance with Eutelsat OneWeb.⁠[14][14][14]

In 2025, Eutelsat launched a capital increase led by the French government, with Bharti Space Limited among the subscribers. Under the plan Eutelsat announced on July 10, 2025, after the two-step capital increase the French government would hold 29.65% and Bharti Space Limited 17.88%.⁠[15]

On December 24, 2025, Bharti and Warburg Pincus announced a strategic investment in Haier India, the Indian subsidiary of the Haier Group; after the transaction is completed, the two will together hold 49%, the Haier Group will retain 49%, and the remainder will be held by Haier India’s management.⁠[16][16]

On March 30, 2026, Bharti Airtel announced that Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle, and Anchorage Capital, through their affiliates, would invest in its data center subsidiary Nxtra Data Limited in a round totaling $1 billion, in which Airtel would also participate while retaining a controlling stake; after closing, Nxtra would be valued at about $3.1 billion, and the deal was subject to regulatory approvals in India.⁠[17][17][17][17]

On April 2, 2026, Bharti Airtel announced that it had passed 650 million customers, ranking second in the world by mobile customer base according to GSMA Intelligence. These included over 368 million mobile customers in India and over 13 million home broadband customers; Airtel Africa had over 179 million customers in 14 countries, and its mobile financial platform Airtel Money had over 52 million customers.⁠[18][18][18][18][18][18]

On May 17, 2026, Bharti announced that the British insurer Prudential plc had agreed to acquire a 75% stake in Bharti Life Insurance from Bharti Life Ventures and other shareholders, subject to regulatory approvals. Bharti Life Insurance commenced operations in 2006 and was majority owned by Bharti, with a minority investment held by funds managed by 360 ONE Asset.⁠[19][19][5][19]

On June 15, 2026, Bharti Airtel announced that nearly 100% of shareholders had approved a share-swap transaction: Bharti Airtel would issue shares on a preferential basis to Indian Continent Investment Limited, a promoter group entity, in exchange for its 16.31% stake in Airtel Africa. After the transaction is completed and regulatory approvals are obtained, Bharti Airtel’s effective stake in Airtel Africa will rise to about 79%.⁠[20][20][20]

As of the end of August 2026, India had a total of 1,101.21 million broadband subscribers (including machine-to-machine connections); Bharti Airtel had 386.39 million, ranking second behind Reliance Jio’s 538.03 million, and the two together had about 924 million, about 84% of the national total.⁠[21][21][21][21]

On October 7, 2026, Elon Musk said on X that Starlink’s entry into India was being blocked by “certain oligarchs,” without naming anyone. The next morning, India’s communications ministry issued a statement through the Press Information Bureau saying that the government applies a fair and non-discriminatory authorization framework to all telecommunication services, including satellite communications; that licenses had been granted to three Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite services based on non-geosynchronous satellite orbits; that security assessments of all three were under way, after which they could proceed to the next step of seeking spectrum; and that the three were currently at broadly the same regulatory stage, so the suggestion that the framework or its application was unfair or discriminatory was “baseless and misconceived.” The three licensees are Starlink, Reliance Jio’s satellite company, and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb.⁠[22][22][23][23][23][23][22]

On the same day, asked about Musk’s claims at India Mobile Congress, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said Bharti’s own satellite business was also waiting for regulatory approvals; Jio Platforms managing director Akash Ambani declined to comment, saying he had not seen Musk’s remarks.⁠[22][22][22]

As of October 2026, the group’s Indian businesses include Bharti Airtel (India’s largest integrated communications solutions provider and the second-largest mobile operator in Africa, which also offers passive infrastructure such as towers through its subsidiary Indus Towers), Bharti Life Insurance, Bharti Real Estate (developing commercial real estate since 2003, with some Worldmark projects held in a joint venture with Brookfield), and Gourmet Investments, which operates international restaurant brands such as PizzaExpress and Chili’s.⁠[5][5][5][5][5]

Its international businesses include Airtel Africa, which runs telecommunications and mobile financial services in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa; a strategic stake in the Mauritian telecom operator Emtel; the satellite operator Eutelsat; and Norlake Hospitality, which works with the London-based hospitality group Ennismore and holds hotel assets including The Hoxton and Scotland’s Gleneagles. The group also holds over 10% of the sub-Saharan African oil and gas company Delonex Energy, with no management role.⁠[24][24][24][24][25][25]

The group’s philanthropic arm, Bharti Airtel Foundation, focuses on education for underprivileged children in rural areas, with a special focus on girls; its main programs include Satya Bharti Schools and the Quality Support Program, and it has reached over 3.7 million children since its inception. From 2014 to 2021, the foundation also ran Satya Bharti Abhiyan in Punjab to improve sanitation, benefiting over 200,000 people.⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

Bharti Enterprises: Official website: https://www.bharti.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

Bharti Airtel: Official website: https://www.airtel.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]

X: Public account: https://x.com/bhartinews (opens in a new window)⁠[1]

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