Bharti Airtel shares fall 4% after NBFC push, ₹20,000 crore funding plan

Bharti Airtel plans to build a high-scale NBFC platform under Airtel Money, expanding its play in digital lending. The NBFC will be capitalised with ₹20,000 crore, to be infused over the next few years.

Bharti Airtel will hold a 70% stake in the entity, while promoter group Bharti Enterprises will own the remaining 30%.

Airtel Money received its NBFC licence from the Reserve Bank of India on February 13, 2026.

Until now, Airtel Money was operating as a lending service provider, acting as a facilitator for loans rather than lending from its own balance sheet.

The platform has facilitated over ₹9,000 crore of loan disbursements so far. With the NBFC licence now in place, Airtel Money can directly originate and lend loans on its own books.

The company's over 368 million-strong customer base and deep telecom data stack are expected to aid in credit underwriting and risk assessment.

The company said the expansion is a natural adjacency that leverages Airtel's large customer base to build the next growth engine and further diversify its portfolio.

Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman and MD of Bharti Airtel, said the success of the LSP platform over the past two years demonstrates the company's ability to combine technology, data and customer trust to deliver credit at a national scale.

He added that the NBFC expansion strengthens this foundation and reflects Airtel's ambition to build a differentiated, future-ready digital lending business focused on trust, innovation and financial inclusion.

What are brokerages saying

Brokerage firm Morgan Stanley has an 'Overweight' rating on Bharti Airtel with a price target of ₹2,450.

The brokerage said that the group has been prudent in capital allocation over the past several years.

While investments in the NBFC will increase overall capex intensity, it believes the move can build incremental revenue streams with potential long-term value creation in the lending business.

Citi, which has a 'Buy' rating and a price target of ₹2,380 on Bharti Airtel, said the company's NBFC expansion is a natural adjacency to build its next growth engine and diversify its portfolio.

Over the past two years, Bharti has built a strong lending service provider model by integrating technology, data and customer insights. It now intends to combine this capability with its NBFC platform and scale the business using its own balance sheet.

Given Bharti's strong FCF generation and upcoming rights issue payment, the brokerage said this foray is unlikely to materially impact leverage or cash flows.

That said, it cautioned that achieving optimal capital utilisation, efficient risk-adjusted returns and meaningful scale typically takes a few years for lending platforms.

Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd. ended 0.99% higher on Monday at ₹1,997. The stock is down over 5% so far in 2026.

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