Bharti Airtel restructures stake in Airtel Payments Bank

Bharti Airtel has transferred its full 69.94 percent stake in Airtel Payments Bank to a wholly owned subsidiary, Airtel Limited, as part of an exercise of internal shareholding reorganisation, the company said in an exchange filing. 

Following the receipt of the required corporate and regulatory approvals, Bharti Airtel Limited's (the Company) 69.94 percent holding in Airtel Payments Bank Limited (the Bank) would be demerged to the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Airtel Limited. Bharti Airtel said in a filing with the regulator on Tuesday that the above is an internal restructuring of the Bank's shareholding and does not have any implication on the ownership of the Bank.

"This is an internal re-organisation of shareholding and has no impact on the ownership of the Bank. The requisite regulatory and corporate approvals in this regard, have been received by the Company," Airtel stated.. 

Airtel stated that the shareholding transfer is under the related party transactions and will be executed at an arm's length.

Airtel Payments Bank, which started its operations in 2017, earned a net profit of Rs 18.5 crore on revenues of around Rs 700 crore during the December quarter. Airtel Payments Bank earned revenue of Rs 165.1 crore in FY24 and net worth of Rs 503.8 crore. Bharti Airtel's revenue in the period was Rs 1,49,982.4 crore and a net worth of Rs 80,056.1 crore.

Airtel has been quoted in earlier reports as likely going public with an initial public offering (IPO) for the payments bank in the coming couple of years as a regulatory requirement.