Bharti Airtel Moderates Salary Hikes in FY25 Amid Focus on Capex Discipline and Tariff Repair

Bharti Airtel has adjusted its employee salary increments for the fiscal year 2025. The average salary increase has been reduced to 8% from the previous year's 8.7%, as outlined in the company's annual report. Despite this moderation, Bharti Airtel's consolidated revenue grew by 10.4% to ₹1.7 trillion in FY25, achieving a record-high revenue market share of 40% in mobile services.

Gopal Vittal, vice chairman and managing director, received a 9% salary hike, earning ₹20.2 crore in FY25. This follows increases of over 10% in both FY24 and FY23. Sunil Bharti Mittal, the chairman, saw his pay rise by 0.9% to ₹32.5 crore. Meanwhile, Soumen Ray, the chief financial officer, experienced a 9.5% increase in his salary to ₹6.2 crore.

Employee Remuneration Trends

The median remuneration for employees not on the board or key managerial personnel has declined over the past two years. In FY25, it fell by 3.95%, following a 5.6% drop in FY24. For male employees, median remuneration was ₹8.38 lakh, while female employees earned ₹8.17 lakh in FY25.

Airtel attributed these changes to shifts in employee roles and internal transitions within the group rather than any negative impact on overall compensation philosophy or actual remuneration levels.

Capital Expenditure Strategy

Following significant capital expenditure on its 5G rollout, Airtel is now focusing on disciplined capex management to ensure long-term value creation. Over five years, Airtel invested over ₹1.6 trillion in digital infrastructure expansion.

In FY25, Airtel's capital expenditure amounted to ₹30,300 crore compared to ₹33,300 crore in FY24 and more than ₹40,000 crore in FY23.

Financial Commitments and Tariff Adjustments

Airtel generated an operating free cash flow of ₹55,300 crore and paid ₹37,300 crore towards licence fees and spectrum use charges to the government. Additionally, it settled ₹28,900 crore for spectrum obligations.

"Our focus remains on growing our postpaid base," Vittal stated in the annual report while highlighting the need for further tariff adjustments to enhance return on capital employed sustainably.

The company spent ₹6,309 crore on employee benefits during FY25—about 3.6% of its revenue from operations—up from ₹5,323 crore the previous year.

Airtel had a workforce of 20,310 employees on roll and 73,929 contractual workers at March's end compared to 19,198 employees on roll and 65,446 contractual workers in FY24.

Mittal noted that Airtel is prepared for a transition to standalone 5G networks when it becomes mainstream technology while continuing pilot testing.