Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a 72% plunge in year-on-year net profit in the fourth quarter of 2016-’17, indicating the extreme impact newcomer Reliance Jio’s offers has had on the telecom major. Revenue saw a 12% drop to Rs 21,934.6 crore in the same quarter, the company said.
Its Q4 net profit declined to Rs 373.4 crore from Rs 1,319.2 crore in the corresponding period last year, marking the second consecutive drop in profit – it had fallen by 55% in the December quarter. Airtel’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, which are indicators of a company’s operating profitability, also saw a significant YoY drop to Rs 7,992.8 crore from Rs 9,188.1.
Airtel posted the negative figures despite having reduced its capital expenditure from Rs 6,057.4 crore in Q4 last financial year to Rs 3,808.2 crore. The company’s net profit for the 2016-’17 financial year saw a steep decline to Rs 3,800 crore from Rs 6,077 crore.
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