Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Monday said its board has promoted Gopal Vittal as Executive Vice-Chairman from January 1, 2026, from his current role as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO).

Shashwat Sharma, currently Chief Operation Officer, will be appointed MD and CEO on January 1, 2026, Airtel said on Monday.

“Vittal has led Bharti Airtel as MD & CEO for the last 12 years. In this period, Airtel has built a winning portfolio of businesses across mobile, B2B, Home Broadband, DTH and digital services. Even in mobile, an intensely competitive space, Airtel has seen its revenue market share grow from 30 per cent to 40 per cent,” the company said.

Customer obsession and digital capabilities embedded in its talent pool secures its future. The capital markets acknowledge this with a five-fold increase in the market capitalisation of the company to well over $100 billion, it said.

In a change of board, Rakesh Bharti Mittal, having served Airtel for nine years, will move on to the boards of Indus Towers and Bharti Hexacom. He returns to Airtel to be the Bharti Board nominee with immediate effect, it added.

“I am pleased with the succession and transition plan of leadership at Airtel and there could not have been a better time for Airtel to unveil the new arrangement where change and continuity will go hand-in-hand. Empowerment has been an article of faith with me, which has resulted in a highly energised management, delivering superior results,” Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel, said.

“Airtel is one of the rare home-grown enterprises where the finest professionals combine entrepreneurial flair to bring to hundreds of millions of customers the best technology and services in our industry,” he added.

Meanwhile, Airtel’s consolidated net profit (after exceptional items) jumped 168 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to ₹3,593 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, as compared to ₹1,340.7 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year.

Consolidated revenue for the quarter in review also grew 12 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to ₹41,473 crore, as against ₹37,044 crore in the July-September period in the last financial year.

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