How big is Bharti Airtel? Market Cap vs Revenue, ARPU & Profit

Bharti Airtel is no longer just a telecom company. It’s the network layer behind daily India - calls, mobile data, home broadband, office connectivity, and the digital services that ride on top of them. When people talk about Airtel’s size, they usually quote market cap (the stock market value of the whole company). That’s a great starting point, but it’s not the full picture because market cap also includes expectations about the future. So this blog explains Airtel’s scale using two lenses together: valuation (market cap) and business performance (FY25 revenue, profits, margins, and ARPU), and then compares those numbers to other giants, tech IPO names, and telecom peers for a sense of magnitude.

Airtel in FY25: The Business Engine

Before comparing Airtel with anyone else, lock the base numbers.

Source: Screener.in, company filings

Airtel’s value is not only because investors like the story, but the FY25 shows a very large revenue base with strong operating profitability.

How Big Does the Market Think Airtel is?

Airtel’s market cap is bigger than well-known heavyweights like ICICI Bank, LIC, Titan, and Eternal (Zomato). That’s a signal that the market treats telecom like core infrastructure, similar to banking or energy, because so much of the economy runs on reliable networks.

​Source: Screener.in

Airtel vs New-Age Tech IPOs

Airtel already has a massive customer base paying every month, and in FY25 it generated ₹1,72,985 crore of revenue with a 56% operating margin, numbers that many young platforms may take years to reach. Many startups can grow fast, but the market often rewards the ones that prove durable monetisation and operating discipline, especially when IPO cycles turn more selective.

​Source: Screener.in

Airtel’s ARPU and Margins Create a Wide Moat

The telecom becomes “winner-takes-most”. Airtel combines the largest revenue base with a higher average revenue per user of ₹245 and stronger operating profitability. Jio is close but monetises lower per user (ARPU ₹206). Vodafone Idea lags sharply on both scale and unit economics (ARPU ₹164).

​Source: Screener.in, Company filings | Reliance Jio = Jio Platform

Final Take

• Airtel has grown into a core piece of India’s digital infrastructure, combining massive scale with rising ARPU and strong operating margins, which explains why its market value now sits above many financial giants and tech companies.
• ​At the same time, telecom remains capital-heavy and tightly regulated, with continuous 5G and fibre investments, tariff sensitivities, and intense competition from fellow giants like Jio, so investors and users should remember that “winner-takes-most” does not mean risk-free or linear.
• ​Airtel looks more like a digital utility than a plain telecom stock, but utilities can face regulatory, pricing, and capex shocks even when demand stays strong.
• ​Revenue, ARPU, and EBITDA trends show real business strength, yet valuations always bake in future expectations, which can change quickly if growth slows or the competitive landscape shifts.​
• Comparing market cap with peers, startups, and even countries is a powerful way to understand scale, but it is only one lens; long-term outcomes will still depend on cash flows, balance sheet discipline, and how well Airtel adapts to the next wave of digital services.

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