NSDL flip-flops on Bharti Airtel’s foreign ownership limits

Shares of Bharti Airtel surged almost 13 percent in early trade on October 28 after the National Securities Depository (NSDL) increased the company’s foreign ownership limits to 100 percent.

A day after its posted decent quarterly results, the telecom major’s shares saw strong buying interest after the NSDL said “Bharti Airtel has received approval for an increase in FII limit up to 100 percent”.

According to the NSDL website, the limit was 49 percent and approval for 100 percent foreign limit was pending. CNBC Awaaz was the first to report the notification change.

Experts say now that Bharti Airtel has been able to obtain the FII limit at 100 percent, MSCI is likely to increase weightage in the company.

After MSCI increases weightage, Bharti Airtel shares can see inflows of Rs 15,000-20,000 crore.

On October 27, Airtel reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 763.2 crore for the September quarter of FY21 against a loss of Rs 23,044.90 crore in Q2FY20 and Rs 15,933.1 crore in Q1FY21.

The company’s consolidated revenue came in at Rs 25,785 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2020.

Consolidated EBITDA came at Rs 11,848.3 crore, while EBITDA margin came at 46 percent.

Goldman Sachs has maintained a “buy” rating on the stock with a target at Rs 635. According to Goldman Sachs, the execution continues to be near-flawless and Q2 results solid beat across both topline and EBITDA.

Research house UBS maintained a ‘buy’ rating with a target at Rs 655. The Q2 earnings an all-round beat. The company remains well-placed in the sector, given its investment head-start, reported CNBC-TV18.

Citi has kept a ‘buy’ call and target at Rs 690. The results were across-the-board beat with India mobile shinning. The revenue/EBITDA beat Citi’s estimates by 5 percent/9 percent, it said. Moneycontrol