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Informist, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025

 

--Bharti Airtel board OKs appointing Soumen Ray as group CFO effective Jan 1

--Bharti Airtel OKs appointing Akhil Garg as Airtel India CFO from Jan 1 

--Bharti Hexacom board OKs appointing Kathikeyan Velu as CFO from Jan 1 

--Bharti Hexacom: Akhil Garg resigned as CFO effective Dec 31 

 

KOLKATA – Bharti Airtel Ltd. Thursday said Gopal Vittal will be appointed executive vice-chairman on Jan. 1, in keeping with the company's succession plan. He will oversee Bharti Airtel and all its subsidiaries. For the past 13 years, Vittal has led Bharti Airtel as managing director and chief executive officer.

 

As part of the structured succession process, Vittal, in addition to being managing director, was named vice-chairman in October 2024 and Shashwat Sharma was named chief executive officer-designate. Sharma will succeed Vittal as managing director and chief executive officer on Jan. 1. He will report to Vittal. 

 

In his new role, besides overseeing the Bharti group companies, Vittal will be responsible for driving synergies in the digital and technology, network strategy, procurement, and talent. He will also focus on group strategy and on future-proofing the organisation for the next stages of its evolution, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

 

The company's board also approved the appointment of Soumen Ray, currently chief financial officer of Bharti Airtel India, as the group's chief financial officer. Ray will take up the new role from Jan. 1. He, too, will report to Vittal.

 

Akhil Garg, financial controller at Bharti Airtel and chief financial officer at group company Bharti Hexacom Ltd., will take over from Ray as Bharti Airtel India's chief financial officer from Jan. 1. He will report to both Sharma and Ray. Garg has submitted his resignation at Bharti Hexacom. His last working day at the group company is Dec. 31. Karthikeyan Velu, who is already at Bharti Hexacom, will take over from Garg as chief financial officer there.

 

Rohit Puri, currently joint company secretary and compliance officer, will be appointed company secretary and compliance officer for Bharti Airtel. Pankaj Tewari, who is the group company secretary, will continue to provide leadership and supervision at the group level, Bharti Airtel said in the statement.

 

"As an organisation we pride ourselves with our highly energised and professional management team, which, combined with our entrepreneurial flair, brings to hundreds of millions of customers the best technology and services across the geographies we operate in," Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, said in the statement.

 

For the September quarter, Bharti Airtel had reported a consolidated net profit of INR 67.92 billion on a revenue of INR 521.45 billion. Thursday, the stock closed 0.8% lower at INR 2,092.00 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Avishek Rakshit

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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