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Informist, Friday, May 1, 2026

By Shakshi Jain

NEW DELHI – Telecommunications infrastructure company Indus Towers Ltd. late Thursday posted a marginally higher-than-expected bottom line for the March quarter, helped by a slight sequential rise in other income. Meanwhile, the top line of the company declined slightly on quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimate.

Jan-Mar marked the second consecutive quarter of a sequential decline, even though small in quantum, in the top line of the company while the bottom line rose quarter-on-quarter after declining in the trailing three months.

The subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Ltd. reported a consolidated net profit of INR 17.93 billion for the March quarter, up nearly 1% on quarter. On a year-on-year basis, the bottom line was up 0.8%. Analysts had estimated the company's net profit for the reporting quarter at INR 17.82 billion.

Indus Towers' consolidated revenue from operations declined 0.6% sequentially but rose almost 5% on year to INR 81.01 billion. This is lower than analysts' consensus estimate of INR 82.60 billion.

Indus Towers maintained its cautious financial approach in the March quarter by not recognising revenue equalisation assets related to the straight-lining of lease rentals for a "large customer", which is widely understood as Vodafone Idea Ltd., due to the financial condition of the customer. 

The company's total expenses for Jan-Mar remained largely unchanged on quarter but rose over 9% on year to INR 36.37 billion. Power and fuel costs, which comprise the largest share in the company's expenditure pie, declined over 2% sequentially but rose by roughly the same quantum on year to INR 28.88 billion during the quarter. Its adjusted depreciation and amortisation expense for the quarter grew over 2% sequentially and almost 9% on year to INR 18.39 billion.

Indus Towers net added 4,892 macro towers in Jan-Mar to take its total to 264,514 by the end of the quarter. Macro co-locations increased by 6,192 in the quarter to reach 428,014 as of March-end. The company also net added 55 lean co-locations during the quarter.

On other hand, the company's sharing revenue per macro tower declined to INR 66,604 per month in Jan-Mar from INR 67,285 in the trailing three months.  

The company's sharing revenue per sharing operator for macro towers was INR 41,078 per month in the reporting quarter, down from INR 41,429 in the December quarter. Its sharing revenue per sharing operator for lean towers improved to INR 16,535 per month in Jan-Mar from INR 16,385 per month in the preceeding three months.

MARGIN DIP

Indus Towers' consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation declined almost 1% sequentially to INR 44.64 billion in the March quarter. Its consolidated EBITDA margin contracted 20 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 55.1% in Jan-Mar.

The company's consolidated earnings before interest and tax for the reporting quarter added up to INR 25.86 billion, down over 3% from the trailing quarter. Consequently, its consolidated EBIT margin for Jan-Mar shrank by 90 bps to 31.9%. The margins were computed on revenue excluding other income, the company said.

Indus Towers incurred a capital expenditure of INR 23.31 billion in the March quarter to take the total for the year to INR 88.17 billion. For the full year 2025-26 (Apr-Mar), the company reported a consolidated net profit of INR 71.45 billion, down over slightly over 28% on year. Meanwhile its revenue for the 12 months rose almost 8% on year to INR 324.93 billion.

The company's board recommended a final dividend of INR 14 per share for the year ended Mar. 31. Thursday, shares of the company had ended almost 1% lower at INR 409.95 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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