Promoters, GIC to pump in ₹16,785 crore in Airtel rights issue

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel Ltd’s promoters and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd will together invest ₹16,785 crore as part of a rights issue approved by telecom operator’s board last month to help strengthen its balance sheet and continue investing in networks in a hyper-competitive market.

This comes a week after the Bharti Airtel board approved a rights issue of ₹25,000 crore, as well as raising ₹7,000 crore through foreign currency perpetual bond issues, taking the total capital raise to ₹32,000 crore.

The fundraising is crucial for Bharti Airtel as it faces stiff competition from Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, which has hit the revenue stream of operators since entering the telecom sector in September 2016 with its cheap tariffs.