Bharti Enterprises is preparing Airtel Payments Bank for an initial public offering in three to four years. The company wants scale first.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, stamped the entity a "sleeping giant" that is now closing in on ₹4,000 crore in annual top-line revenue across nearly 100 million active customers. Yet taking it to Dalal Street at current valuations makes little sense for the parent conglomerate.
"And can we get to ₹10,000 crore revenue, ₹1,000 crore profit, with a ₹10,000 crore deposit? I think it's a possibility in the next few years," Mittal said. "And that's the time when this giant will hopefully get showcased into the market."
He put a hard horizon on the plan: 2030.
A critical structural hurdle stands in front of that timetable. Under existing Reserve Bank of India licensing guidelines for payments banks, the statutory window mandating a public market float expires within twelve to eighteen months.
Bharti needs more runway. Mittal confirmed the group has initiated formal discussions with the banking regulator to seek an extension.
We have a window to do it in the next 3 to 4 years. But we will need RBI's indulgence because the statutory period is expiring in a year, year-and-a-half time. But we will need 3 to 4 years to get to the target that we're having. So let us say 2030, we should be ₹10,000 crores in deposit, ₹10,000 crores in revenue, and ₹1,000 crore in profit. Then it becomes a meaningful size. For Bharti Enterprises today to have a listed company which is a few thousand crores of valuation just doesn't sit well.
Asked directly whether formal conversations with the banking regulator had begun, Mittal confirmed: "Oh, yes, indeed. We're just now in conversation."
| Operational & Financial Parameter | Current Metric | 2030 IPO Target Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Active Customer Base | ~100 Million | Scaled Retail Base |
| Annual Revenue | Approaching ₹4,000 Crore | ₹10,000 Crore |
| Annual Net Profit | Scaling Base | ₹1,000 Crore |
| Total Deposits | Expanding Float | ₹10,000 Crore |
| Listing Horizon |
Financial services represents the next primary frontier for Bharti Enterprises. The strategy mirrors the group's playbook abroad, where Airtel Money pulled off an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange—marking the exchange's largest market debut since 2021.
In India, the game plan hinges on cross-selling. Bharti intends to deploy Airtel's vast telecom data engine to underwrite and distribute consumer loans directly to existing subscribers, driving credit penetration through payment rails that initially targeted unbanked demographics.
Market Context: Payments banks operate under stringent regulatory caps, including balance limits per individual account and restrictions against direct lending on their own balance sheets. To manufacture ₹1,000 crore in net profit, Airtel Payments Bank must aggressively expand distribution fees, cross-sell third-party credit, and monetise high-frequency transaction volumes.
Mittal tied the bank's trajectory to Bharti's structural transformation since he launched his entrepreneurial career at age 18, leaving Ludhiana for Mumbai.
He recalled surviving brutal industry shakeouts—the regulatory and competitive cross-currents that hit the telecom sector in 2002, 2009, and 2016. Mittal described those flashpoints as his corporate versions of the Mahabharat.
"It feels like we have come out of the big storm and into a much more peaceful environment," Mittal said. Building lasting scale required delegating authority early. "If I have to be reasonably big-sized, I need to have a very distributed, empowered leadership. That became the norm."
AirNews will track Bharti's filings with the Reserve Bank of India as the banking regulator considers the group's formal petition for listing forbearance.
| Mandated within 12–18 Months |
| 2028–2030 (3–4 Years) |
| Regulatory Status | Active Licensee | Extension Sought Under RBI Rules |