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Informist, Monday, Apr. 27, 2026

By Arya S. Biju

MUMBAI – Higher co-locations and robust net tenancy additions are likely to help Indus Towers Ltd. report a modest increase in its March quarter earnings after a sequential decline in both consolidated revenue and net profit in the trailing quarter. Analysts expect the company to benefit from network expansion by Vodafone Idea Ltd. and incremental rural rollouts by parent Bharti Airtel Ltd.

The telecommunications infrastructure provider's consolidated net profit for the reporting quarter is expected to rise around 2%, both sequentially and on year, to INR 18.12 billion, according to an average of estimates from six brokerages. While this is better than the 3% sequential fall it reported in the previous quarter, the growth will still be the slowest in 17 quarters. 

The company's consolidated revenue for the quarter is pegged at INR 82.31 billion, up over 1% on quarter, according to the estimates. On a year-on-year basis, the company's top line is expected to rise 6.5%, the slowest pace in five quarters.

The highest estimate for the company's bottom line for the quarter is INR 18.66 billion from Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd. and the lowest estimate of INR 17.28 billion is from Kotak Securities Ltd. Meanwhile, Centrum Broking Ltd. has the highest estimate of INR 82.99 billion for the company's top line for the quarter and JM Financial Institutional Securities Pvt. Ltd. has the lowest estimate of INR 81.30 billion. 

The company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation for the March quarter is expected to be INR 45.21 billion, up marginally from INR 45.09 billion reported in the trailing quarter, according to the average of estimates from six brokerages. The metric is expected to grow nearly 3% on year. The company's EBITDA margin for the quarter is expected to be in the range of 54.3-55.0%, according to estimates from two brokerages. In the trailing quarter, the company's EBITDA margin was 55.3%.

Indus Towers is expected to have added 3,000-3,500 towers during the March quarter, driven by network expansion by its top clients, estimates from four brokerages showed. The net tenancy additions for the reporting quarter are expected to be 6,000–6,500, according to estimates, largely in line with the trailing quarter.  Vodafone Idea, though debt-laden, has been continuously investing in expanding their fourth-generation coverage, which is seen supporting Indus Towers' financials.

In the December quarter, the company had net added 3,548 macro towers and 6,105 co-locations. Co-location is the practice of mounting telecom antennas of multiple carriers or operators on the same tower. Net tenancy addition is the change in the number of telecom companies or tenants using a tower over a specific period, calculated as new leases minus exits.

ICICI Securities expects the company's rental per tenant to improve over 1% sequentially to INR 41,926, driven by a low base, though the growth is likely to be limited by a rise in sharing ratio. Revenue per tenant declines with higher sharing ratio as sharing operators are usually charged lower rates than the anchor tenant. JM Financial, on the other hand, expects the company's average sharing revenue per macro tenant to be flat on quarter. 

Indus Towers will announce its March quarter earnings Thursday. Market participants will focus on the management's commentary on demand visibility, its foray into business in Africa, and updates on the company's dividend distribution plans this quarter. Earlier this year, the company incorporated a step-down wholly-owned subsidiary in Africa to establish and operate telecommunication-related infrastructure in the region.

For the financial year ended Mar. 31, JM Financial expects the company to report a consolidated net profit of INR 71.00 billion, down 28.5% on year. Its revenue for the full year is expected to grow nearly 9% on year INR 328.00 billion, the brokerage said.

Monday, shares of Indus Towers ended at INR 402.30 on the National Stock Exchange, up marginally from the previous close. The stock is down over 8% since the company reported its December quarter results and down over 19% from its all-time high of INR 499.65, recorded on Aug. 5, 2015.

Of the five research recommendations on Indus Towers available with Informist, two each have 'buy' and 'sell' recommendations on the stock and one has a 'hold' call. The target prices for ‘buy' recommendations on the stock were INR 460 and INR 520, and those for 'sell' calls were INR 390 and INR 400.

Following are the Jan-Mar earnings estimates for Indus Towers from six brokerages in descending order of the estimate of net profit in INR billion:

End

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

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