Airtel shifts strategy to telecom-adjacent new businesses

Investments in data centres, financial services

- URVI MALVANIA

BHARTI AIRTEL’S RECENT investment moves point to a more calibrated shift in strategy,with Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company is tightening its focus on businesses that sit close to its core telecom franchise after an earlier phase of wider diversification at the group level.

For much of the 2000s and early 2010s, Bharti Enterprises expanded into multiple unrelated sectors, including retail through its joint venture with Walmart, insurance with AXA, as well as agri and food processing. Most of these ventures were eventually exited or scaled down, as the group pruned its portfolio and reallocated capital. The shift was gradual but consistent: investment moved away from businesses lacking clear operating linkages with telecom toward areas where infrastructure, distribution, and customer relationships could be leveraged more effectively.