As many as 2.64 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

The stock staged a smart recovery from its recent low of Rs 321.85 on 13 June 2006, to Rs 370.60 on 07 July 2006, on strong buying momentum. The counter was boosted by announcement of Finance Minister to increase their foreign direct investment (FDI) limits to the permissible limit of 74%.

Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel launched a fixed wireless phone (FWP) service, which offers local calls to a mobile subscriber at fixed line telephone charges of 40 paise a minute. The move is aimed at countering the Reliance Communication and Tata Teleservices whose CDMA based fixed wireless telephones have become quite popular with nearly 1 million subscribers across the country. Bharti Airtel will use the GSM technology to offer FWP. This also completes Bharti's service portfolio as an integrated telecom services provider.

Bharti Airtel, on 02 June 2006, issued 4,29,677 equity shares upon conversion of $ 2.30 million FCCBs to Merrill Lynch Capital Markets ESPANA S.A. SV - 242,861 equity shares and UBS AG London - 1,86,816 equity shares.

Bharti Airtel now has a pan-India cellular network and has a subscriber base of over 21 million. It accounts for 28% of the total subscriber base in the country.

The company has plans to diversify into other businesses, including a life insurance venture with AXA of France and FieldFresh Foods, a joint venture with the Rothschild group, to develop Indian horticulture and export fruits and vegetables to the world.

Bharti Airtel reported a 57.70% slide in Q4 March 2006 net profit to Rs 511.24 crore (Rs 1209.56 crore). Revenue slipped 58.60% to Rs 3,270.36 crore (Rs 7,903.03 crore).