Airtel Will Lead Tariff Hikes To Maintain Healthy Valuations, Says Sunil Mittal — Exclusive

Bharti Airtel Ltd. will take the lead in raising telecom tariffs if market signals are right to keep valuations healthy and ensure a better return on investment, its founder-chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said.

"Valuations need to be healthy... The tariff needs to be suitable to give rewards to the shareholders and a decent return on capital," Mittal told NDTV Profit in an exclusive interview. "That has been woefully short."

"We have always said we need to go to Rs 300 ARPU (average revenue per user) from Rs 200 now," he said.

The billionaire industrialist cited inflation over the last six-seven years and the depreciation of the Indian rupee vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar that has led to higher input costs for the telecom company.

"Airtel has spent Rs 40,000 crore on the 5G spectrum and an equal amount on rolling out the network and more needs to be done," he said.

The company's ARPU grew 2.5% sequentially to Rs 208 in the third quarter, with 7.4 million growth in its 4G subscribers.

King Charles III of Britain has bestowed an honorary knighthood on Mittal in recognition of his efforts to strengthen business ties between the two countries. The Honorary Knighthood, the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE), is among the highest honours conferred by the monarch on civilians.

"This award recognises India's rise in the world," Mittal said.

Indian businesses are recognised as good corporate citizens in the U.K. and the country has been a natural choice to set up operations, the Bharti Enterprises chairman said.

"The U.K. has always been a natural choice for Indian businesses," he said, citing examples of the Tata Group's lucrative acquisitions of British companies in steel, tea and luxury cars. "It's only natural that we looked at the U.K. for business opportunities."

He said the U.K. government has been a good facilitator of Indian businesses in the country.