A MAJOR PROJECT

ON
A STUDY ON COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF IDEA AND
AIRTEL

SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT FOR THE

AWARD OF THE DEGREE BACHELOR IN BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

MS. SHIKHA DUA

SUBMITTED BY:
YASH GARG
ENROLLMENT NO: 01180301713
BBA SEMESTER VI
BATCH 2013-2016

RUKMINI DEVI INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDIES

NAAC ACCREDITED ‘A’ Grade
Category ‘A++’ Institute
High grading 83% by joint assessment
An ISO Certified Institute
(Approved by AICTE, HRD Ministry, Govt. of India)
Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi
2A & 2B, MadhubanChowk, Outer Ring Road, Phase –I, Delhi –
110085

1
 STUDENT DECLARATION

This is to certify that I have completed the Project titled "A Study on Comparative analysis of
Idea and Airtel" Under the guidance of MS.SHIKHA DUA in partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the award of degree of Bachelor of Business Administration at RUKMINI
DEVI INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED STUDIES, Delhi. This is an original piece of work & I
have not submitted it earlier elsewhere.

YASH GARG
Enrollment No - 01180301713

2
 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr YASH GARG a student of RUKMINIDEVI INSTITUTE OF
ADVANCED STUDIES , IP UNIVERSITY” has worked under my supervision and
guidance for his Project on Comparative analysis of Idea and Airtel . The matter embodied in
this report is original and authentic and same recommended for evaluation.

Signature of Mentor
MS. SHIKHA DUA

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The present work is an effort to throw some light on Comparative analysis of Idea and
Airtel . The work would not have been possible to come to the present shape without the able
guidance, supervision and help to me by number of people.

With deep sense of gratitude I acknowledged the encouragement and guidance received from
my mentor MS.SHIKHA DUA at RDIAS, IP University.

YASH GARG

Roll No.: 01180301713

Course: B. B.A (VI SEM.)

4
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This project is based on telecom sector as the telecom sector is growing at a very good pace.
The telecom company which I have selected for my project is Idea and Airtel. The reason
behind selecting them is its various schemes in product and service category & also its future
polices where the company is coming out with lots of new & affordable schemes for its
customers.

The next few pages of this report tell about one of the innovative firms in the Indian telecom
industry. IDEA Cellular is a leading GSM mobile services operator in India with over 53
million subscribers, under brand IDEA.IDEA Cellular is a publicly listed company, having
listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE)
in March2007. A frontrunner in introducing revolutionary tariff plans, IDEA Cellular has the
distinction of offering the most customer friendly and competitive Pre Paid offerings, for the
first time in India.
Idea’s mission-“We will delight our customers while meeting their individual communication
needs anytime, anywhere.” Idea’s mission tells us what they are and what they are doing at
the present. Their values are Integrity, commitment, passion, seamlessness and speed are
imperfect. Their values are in perfect sync with their mission because these values are
of paramount importance for the successful achievement of their mission.
This report on Bharti Airtel is done to find out certain objective regarding the strategic
approach Adopted by Airtel to stand strongly in the competitive telecom MARKET .
Airtel’s MARKETING strategies are analyses using various models like SWOT analysis,
BCG Matrix, Ansoff’s matrix, porter’s five forces etc.
The outcomes of these models are properly analyzed to find out the various aspects like
companies position and competitors position in the market.

5
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Student declaration 2

Certificate from Guide 3

Acknowledgement 4

Executive Summary 5

CHAPTER – 1 : Plan of the study 7 - 19

1.1Introduction to topic
1.2 Objectives of the study
1.3 Literature Review
CHAPTER -2 20 - 53
About the Organization / Company Profile
CHAPTER -3 : Research methodology 54 - 58
3.1 Sources of data
3.2 Sample size
3.3 Methods of data collection
CHAPTER -4 59 - 71
Data analysis and Interpretations
CHAPTER -5 72 - 73
Findings and Conclusions
CHAPTER – 6 74 - 75
Suggestions or Recommendations

Bibliography 76

ANNEXURE 77
6
 CHAPTER 1
PLAN OF THE STUDY

7
 CHAPTER 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION TO TOPIC

Telecommunication is the transmission of signals over a long distance for the purpose of
communication. In modern times this process almost always involves the sending of
electromagnetic waves by electronic transmitters but in earlier years it may have involved the
use of smoke signals drums and semaphore lines.
It began with the invention of the telephone in 1876, and then expanded to radio broadcasts in
the late 1800s and to television in the early 1900s. Today, telecommunications also includes
the Internet and cellular phone networks.

A revolution in wireless telecommunications began in the 1900s with pioneering

developments in radio communications by Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi won the Nobel Prize
in Physics in 1909 for his efforts. Other highly notable pioneering inventors and developers
in the field of electrical and electronic telecommunication include Charles
Wheatstone and Samuel Morse (telegraph), Alexander Graham Bell(telephone), Edwin
Armstrong, and Lee de Forest (radio), as well as John Logie Baird and Philo
Farnsworth (television).

8
The world's effective capacity to exchange information through two-way telecommunication
networks grew from 281 pet bytes of (optimally compressed) information in 1986, to 471 pet
bytes in 1993, to 2.2 (optimally compressed) Exabyte’s in 2000, and to 65 (optimally
compressed) Exabyte’s in 2007. This is the informational equivalent of two newspaper pages
per person per day in 1986, and six entire newspapers per person per day by 2007. Given this
growth, telecommunications play an increasingly important role in the world economy and
the global telecommunications industry was about a $4.7 trillion sector in 2012. The service
revenue of the global telecommunications industry was estimated to be $1.5 trillion in 2010,
corresponding to 2.4% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).

SOME OF THE ISSUES THAT WILL GUARANTEE FAILURE IN SALES,

SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY ARE:

 Employees must adhere to a rigid chain of command

 Employees are closely supervised
 Conflict-- in whatever form—is not allowed
 Rewards are based on carrot-and-stick principle
 Wrong objectives are measured

However, we increase our chance of success if we allow employees to take personal

responsibility for their actions in the areas of communication, performance and customer
satisfaction.

9
HOW CAN WE SENSITIZE OUR EMPLOYEES TO THESE
ISSUES?
1. We must identify how we define the customer service and satisfaction
2. We must understand customer expectation level concerning quality
3. We must understand the strategy for customer service quality, and
4. We must understand the measurement and feedback cycles of customer satisfaction.

There are at least three levels of customer expectations about quality:

Level 1. Expectations are very simple and take the form of assumptions, must have, or take it
for granted. For example, I expect the airline to be able to take off, fly to my destination, and
land safely. I expect to get the correct blood for my blood transfusion. And I expect the bank
to deposit my money to my account and to keep correctly tally for me.

Level 2. Expectations are a step higher than that of level 1 and they require some form of
satisfaction through meeting the requirements and specification. For example, I expect to be
treated courteously by all airline personnel. I went to the hospital expecting to have my
hernia, to be in some pain after it was done, to be out on the same day, and to receive a
correct bill. And I went to the bank expecting the bank teller to be friendly, informative and
helpful with my transactions.

10
Level 3. Expectations are much higher than for level 1 and 2. Level 3 requires some kind of
delightfulness or a service that is so good that it attracts me to it. For example, an airline
gives passengers travelling coach class the same superior food service that other airlines
provide only for first class passengers. In fact, I once took a flight where the flight attendant’s
actually baked cookies for us right there on the plane. When I went to the hospital, I expected
staff to treat me with respect and they carefully explained things to me. But I was surprised
when they called me at home the next day to find out how I was doing. And at my house
closing, the bank officer, representing the bank holding my mortgage, not only treated me
with the respect and answered my entire question about my new mortgage, but just before we
shook hands to close the deal, he gave me a house warming gift.
Consumer service and satisfaction 3The strategy issue is also a very important element of
customer satisfaction primarily because it sets the tone for the appropriate training, behavior
and delivery of the specific service.

THERE ARE FOUR ITEMS THAT THE STRATEGY FOR

SERVICE QUALITY OUGHT TO ADDRESS:

1. Customer service attributes: the delivery of the service must be timely, accurate with
concern with courtesy. One may ask why are these elements important? The answer is
that all services are intangible and are a function of perception. As such, they depend on
interpretation. In addition and perhaps more importantly, service by definition is
perishable and if left unattended, it can spoil on the organization. For example, caring will
show that indeed, you are interested in what the customer will have to say. You may
spend time with a customer to find out the customer's real needs, wants, and

11
 expectations.It is not unusual to tell a customer that you may not be able to help, even at
the expense of losing the sale. Furthermore, you may go as far as suggesting the services
of someone else or some other company. You must be observant. In most cases when
dealing with service related items, observations may contribute more to satisfying the
customer than direct communication. Pay attention to body language and mannerisms
and, if necessary, listen between the lines. Always try to be a step ahead of the customer.
Anticipate the customer's action. Actively listen for what the customer is communicating,
but also—and, perhaps, more importantly—listen for what the customer is not
communicating. You must be mindful. Remember that you and your organization exist to
satisfy the customer. Without the customer's need, you do not have a job and the
organization does not have a service to provide. The customer has a choice and, as such,
if you or the organization does not recognize the urgency, sensitivity, uniqueness.
Expectations, and influence that the customer has, you will not be successful in satisfying
the customer.

You must be friendly. Friendliness does not mean being a pest Offer guidance and
information, and let the customer know you are there to help. If necessary, provide feedback
to assist the customer in malting a decision. If you do provide feedback, be truthful. For
example, in a retail clothing store, someone walks into your store, walks around picks up
some clothing and tries it on. As a salesperson you may advise the customer about fit and
answer any questions that a consumer may have.

12
You must be obliging. Patience is the key word to customer satisfaction. Sometimes
customers do not know what they want. They are making up their minds as they go along.
You are serving as the guinea pig for their decision. As such, accommodating them may
make the difference between a satisfied and an unsatisfied customer, or the difference
between a sale and a walkout. When obliging the customer, do not hesitate to educate the
customer as well.
You must be responsible. You are the expert. The customer is looking to you to provide the
appropriate information in a clear, concise, and easy-to-understand manner. Don't try to make
the sale at an costs. This may backfire. What you are trying to accomplish is to develop a
relationship where your expertise can indeed help the customer.
You must be tactful. In any service organization, and in any service delivery, there are going
to be problems between you and the customer. Do not panic. Tactfulness is the process by
which the conflict may be resolved. Your focus is to satisfy the customer and as such, you
should try to identify the problem, analyze it and then resolve it in the most expedient way.
Being tactful does not mean that you have to give in to the customer all the time. What it does
mean is that you act in a composed, professional
Manner and communicate to the customer in a way that is not threatening or damaging. Being
tactful you are willing to listen and exchange information with the intention of resolving the
conflict. It means you have a way of presenting the facts and information in a nice and no
intimidating way. It means to listen patiently, thinking before speaking and listening to what
the customer says without interruptions.
Notice that cost is not an attribute that will make or break service and/or satisfaction. In
service especially, cost is equated with value. That is not to suggest that high cost is
prerequisite to good service or vice versa. We simply suggest that one must continue to
generate more value for the customer but not give away the house. It is indeed a very delicate
balance.
2. Approach for service quality improvement: The basic question one must be able to
answer is why bother with service quality? The answer is in a three prong approach. The
first is cost the second is time to implement the program, and the third is the customer
service impact. Together, they present a nucleus for understanding and implementing the
system that is responsive to both customers and organization for optimum satisfaction.
For example, the Japanese are working on the notion of sensuous cars. Basically, the ear
itself gives you a le, kind of delight and surprise just opening the door, hearing the sound.
Everything is being thought through now, amount emotionally.
13
3. Develop feedback system for customer service quality: The feedback system 1 chooses
will make or break the organization. Make sure not to mix the focus of customer
satisfaction and marketing. They are not the same. The focus of customer service and
satisfaction is to build loyalty, and the focus of marketing is to meet the needs of the
customer profitably. Another way of saying it is that marketing's function is to generate
customer value profitably, whereas the purpose of customer service and satisfaction is to
generate repeatability, recognition, and overall satisfaction of the transaction. The
concern here is to make sure that a goal exists (reporting system for mesurment is
appropriate and reporting system for measurement is appropriate and useful for the
particular service, and to reach the reward of service quality. The question then becomes
how to develop a system that is responsive to the customer's needs, wants, and
expectations. To answer these concerns, look to the customer for answers.

14
4. The value of the information must be focused in at least the following area:
 To know what customers are thinking about you, your service. and your competitors
 To measure and improve your performance
 To turn your strongest areas into market differentiators
 To turn weaknesses into developmental opportunities—before someone else does
 To develop internal communications tools to let everyone know how they are doing
 To demonstrate your commitment to quality and your customers In essence your
measurement for the feedback must be of two distinct kinds:
1. Customer satisfaction, which is dependent upon the transaction
2. Service quality, which is dependent upon the actual relationship
3. Implementation. Perhaps the most important strategy is that of implementation. As part of
the implementation process, management must define the scope of the service quality as
well as the level of customer service as part of the organization, policy. Furthermore, they
must also define the plan of implementation. The plan should include the time schedule,
task assignment and reporting cycle .

15
 NEED FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

The need to determine customer satisfaction will vary somewhat by the competitive
circumstances of a given industry. ln intense consumer-focused activities, measuring
customer satisfaction in critical. But every comoany in every industry can benefit by
examining the needs of their customers. Some of the areas where improvement may be
expected include:
•Better determination of customer uses and needs.
•Identification of problems with customer services.
•A sharper focus on areas having the greatest need for improvement. •Gaining insight for new
products and/or service offerings.

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1.2 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

 To know the customers perception.

 To know which is the best.
 To know the brand loyalty.
 To identify the difference between market performance of Idea and Airtel.
 To study the market of Idea and Airtel on big scale telecommunication sector.
 To study customer buying behavior and factors which influence the purchase decision
process.

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1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW

"In literature antecedents of satisfaction are studied from different aspects. The
considerations extend from psychological to physical and from normative to positive aspects.
However, in most of the cases the consideration is focused on two basic constructs as
customer’s expectations prior to purchase or use of a product and his relative perception of
the performance of that product after using it.

Expectations of a customer on a product tell us his anticipated performance for that product.
As it is suggested in the literature, consumers may have various "types" of expectations when
forming opinions about a product's anticipated performance. For example, four types of
expectations are identified by Miller (1977): ideal, expected, minimum tolerable, and
desirable. While, Day (1977) indicated among expectations, the ones that are about the costs,
the product nature, the efforts in obtaining benefits and lastly expectations of social values.
Perceived product performance is considered as an important construct due to its ability to
allow making comparisons with the expectations.

It is considered that customers judge products on a limited set of norms and attributes.
Olshavsky and Miller (1972) and Olson and Dover (1976) designed their researches as to
manipulate actual product performance, and their aim was to find out how perceived
performance ratings were influenced by expectations. These studies took out the discussions
about explaining the differences between expectations and perceived performance."

The Disconfirmation Model

"The Disconfirmation Model is based on the comparison of customers’ [expectations] and

their [perceived performance] ratings. Specifically, an individual’s expectations are
confirmed when a product performs as expected. It is negatively confirmed when a product
performs more poorly than expected. The disconfirmation is positive when a product
performs over the expectations(Churchill & Suprenant 1982). There are four constructs to
describe the traditional disconfirmation paradigm mentioned as expectations, performance,
disconfirmation and satisfaction." "Satisfaction is considered as an outcome of purchase and
use, resulting from the buyers’ comparison of expected rewards and incurred costs of the
purchase in relation to the anticipated consequences. In operation, satisfaction is somehow

18
similar to attitude as it can be evaluated as the sum of satisfactions with some features of
product." "In the literature, cognitive and affective models of satisfaction are also developed
and considered as alternatives(Pfaff, 1977). Churchill and Suprenant in 1982, evaluated
various studies in the literature and formed an overview of Disconfirmation process in the
following figure:"

19
 CHAPTER 2

COMPANY PROFILE

20
 COMPANY PROFILE OF IDEA

IDEA Cellular Ltd is a leading GSM mobile services operator in India with over 72 million
subscribers, under brand IDEA. The company is a pan India integrated GSM operator
covering the entire telephony landscape of the country, and has NLD and ILD operations.
They offer affordable and world-class mobile services to varied segments of mobile users.
The company is an Aditya Birla Group Company. They offers basic voice and short
message service (SMS) services to high-end value added and general packet radio service
(GPRS) services, such as Blackberry, Datacard, Mobile TV and Games. Their subsidiaries
include Swinder Singh Satara and Co Ltd, Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd, Idea Cellular Services
Ltd, Idea Cellular Infrastructure Services Ltd, Idea Cellular Towers Infrastructure Ltd and
Carlos Towers Ltd. IDEA Cellular Ltd was incorporated in the year 1995 with the name
Birla Communications Ltd. The company obtained licenses for providing GSM-based
services in the Gujarat and Maharashtra Circles following the original GSM license bidding
process. In the year 1996, the company changed the name from Birla Communication Ltd to
Birla AT&T Communications Ltd following joint venture between Grasim Industries and
AT&T Corporation. In the year 1997, they commenced operations in the Gujarat and
Maharashtra Circles. In the year 2000, the company merged with Tata Cellular Ltd, thereby
acquired original license for the Andhra Pradesh Circle. In the year 2001, they acquired the
RPG Cellular Ltd and consequently, they acquired the license for the Madhya Pradesh
(including Chattisgarh) Circle. Also, they obtained the license for providing GSM-based
services in the Delhi Circle following the fourth operator GSM license bidding process. The
name of the company was changed from Birla Communications Ltd to Birla Tata AT&T

21
Ltd. In the year 2002, the name of the company was further changed to Idea Cellular Ltd
and also, they launched the 'Idea' brand name. They commenced commercial operation in
Delhi circle. In June 3, 2002, they acquired Swinder Singh Satara & Company Ltd through
a share purchase agreement. In the year 2004, the company acquired Escotel Mobile
Communications Ltd (subsequently renamed as Idea Mobile Communications Limited).
They commercially launched EDGE services 2005 and became the first operator in India to
do so. In the year 2005, the company won an Award for the 'Bill Flash' service at GSM
Association Awards in Barcelona, Spain. They sponsored the International Indian Film
Academy Awards. In the year 2006, the company became a part of the Aditya Birla Group
subsequent to the TATA Group transferring their entire shareholding in the company to the
Aditya Birla Group. They received Letter of Intent from the DoT for a new UAS License
for the Mumbai Circle. Also, they received Letter of Intent from the DoT for a new UAS
License for the Bihar Circle through Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd. During the year 2006-07,
the company commenced National Long Distance service to carry part of the Company's
own traffic. They launched commercial mobile services in the service areas of Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh (East) and Himachal Pradesh. They made Initial Public Offering and raised
Rs 25,000 million. They won an award for the 'CARE' service in the 'Best Billing or
Customer Care Solution' at the GSM Association Awards in Barcelona, Spain. During the
year, the company entered into a ten years business transformation pact to integrate,
innovate, and transform its business processes and IT infrastructure with International
Business Machines (IBM). They signed USD 500 million contract with Nokia Siemens
Networks to expand and strengthen the Company's network. Also, they singed a USD 343
million contract for GSM expansion with Ericsson in the Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh service areas. In June 2006, Escorts
Telecommunications Ltd became the subsidiary of the company and subsequently was
renamed as Idea Telecommunications Ltd. In February 2007, they acquired 10,000,000
equity shares of Rs. 10 each of Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd, a company holding License to
operate in the telecom service area of Bihar, for a purchase consideration of Rs 100 million.
During the year 2007-08, the company expanded their network from 4432 cities and towns
to 13308 cities and towns. They formed three new subsidiaries namely, Idea Cellular
Services Ltd, Idea Cellular Infrastructure Services Ltd and Idea Cellular Tower
Infrastructure Ltd. The main purpose of Idea Cellular Services Ltd is to provide manpower
services to Idea Cellular and Idea Cellular Infrastructure Services Ltd & Idea Cellular

22
Tower Infrastructure Ltd are meant for hiving off Idea's passive infrastructure network. In
December 2007, the company in association with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar formed
a joint venture, namely Indus Tower to provide passive infrastructure services in India to all
operators on a non discretionary basis. In February 2008, the company received the Unified
Access Services Licences for the telecom service areas of Punjab, Karnataka, Tamilnadu
including Chennai, North East, West Bengal, Kolkatta, Jammu & Kashmir, Orissa and
Assam. During the year 2008-09, the company acquired 40.8% stake in Spice
Communications Ltd (Spice), having operations in Punjab and Karnataka service areas,
from MCorp Global Communications Pvt Ltd, the erstwhile promoters of Spice. They
launched services in Mumbai, Orissa, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Jammu & Kashmir,
Kolkata and West Bengal. In addition, Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd, a wholly owned
subsidiary, launched operations in Bihar (including Jharkhand) service area. During the
year, the company made a tie-up with Indian Oil Corporation, the largest petroleum
company in India, to use their petrol pumps and gas agencies for branding and distribution
of Idea SIM Cards and Recharge Vouchers. They were the first operator in India to launch
Nokia Life Tools in association with Nokia. They launched 'International Airtime Transfer',
a unique VAS service, whereby NRI community can directly recharge the prepaid mobiles
of Idea subscribers in India through several international merchants and the web in Gulf, the
USA and UK. During the year, the company launched NetSetter Data Cards and Blackberry
solutions to cater to their data-savy consumer segments. As per the scheme of arrangement,
the company de-merged their passive infrastructure assets in the service areas of Andhra
Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (both East & West including Uttarakhand), Haryana,
Kerala, Rajasthan and Mumbai to Idea Cellular Towers Infrastructure Ltd, a wholly owned
subsidiary, with an appointed date of January 1, 2009. During the year 2009-10, the
company expanded their pan-India presence through service launches in Orissa, Tamil
Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Kolkata, West Bengal, Assam and North East service areas,
thereby making it a nationwide service provider. As one of Idea's new VAS activities, the
company launched 'Buddy Recharge' - a unique peer-to-peer talk time transfer product.
They also launched Oongli Cricket during the IPL season. During the year, the company
launched a standardized self care portal 'CARE' which gives information to the customer on
products / tariffs and information of their account such as billed amount, last recharge, last
calls, unbilled amount, etc. They were the first operator to launch 'Pre Tones', which is an
innovative VAS service which allows the user to listen to the caller tones of his / her own

23
choice while making an outgoing call instead of listening to the respondent's caller tone. As
per the scheme of arrangement, the company telecom operations of the Bihar service area
along with certain assets and liabilities of Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd, a wholly owned
subsidiary was de-merged and transferred to the company with effect from March 1, 2010.
Spice Communications Ltd which had operations in the Punjab and Karnataka service areas,
and licenses for National and International Long Distance operations was amalgamated with
the company with effect from March 1, 2010. Also, Carlos Towers Ltd became a subsidiary
company pursuant to the amalgamation of Spice Communications Ltd with the company. In
April 2010, the company received a License for providing pan India Internet Services (ISP
License). In the 3G Spectrum auction, the company emerged as a winner in 11 Service
Areas viz. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh
(E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, at a
total cost of Rs 5,768.59 crore. During the year under review, the company became a pan
India operator following the roll out of services in the remaining service areas of Orissa,
Tamilnadu (including Chennai), Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, Kolkata, North East and
Assam. In January 20, 2011, the Company launched mobile number portability (MNP), an
invite to all Indian mobile customers to change their wireless operator, while retaining their
mobile number. In March, 2011 Company launched 3G services in 9 out of these 11 service
areas. The Company also entered into bilateral roaming arrangement for the service areas of
Mumbai, Bihar, Karnataka, Delhi, Kolkata and Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), with
leading quality operators, enabling it to offer 3G services in 15 service areas. The company
is in the process of launching 3G services in Jammu and Kashmir service area. The 3G
spectrum for Punjab service area has not been earmarked by DoT to the Company for
commercial usage as yet, and hence Company has not been able to launch 3G service there
until now. The company is now installing 3G cell sites to capture the future wireless
broadband data market.
Company Overview
Idea Cellular Limited (“Idea”) is a leading pan India mobile service operator. The revenue
market share (RMS) for the company, for Q2 FY11 stands at 12.8%, while for the
Established Service Areas the RMS is 17.3%. Idea won 3G spectrum in 11 out of 22 service
areas, covering ~80% of its existing revenue, in the recent auction.

24
A. Promoter Group
Idea is part of the Aditya Birla Group, a US$ 29 billion corporation. The Aditya Birla
Group is in the League of Fortune 500 and has businesses in sectors ranging from metals,
garments, cement, fertilisers, life insurance and financial services among others. Over 60%
of Group’s revenues are derived from overseas operations. The group operates in 27
countries, and is
anchored by an extraordinary force of over 130,600 employees belonging to 40
nationalities. The current Group holding of 46.96% in Idea is made up of;
Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd. 25.37%
Birla TMT Holdings Pvt. Ltd. 8.59%
Hindalco Industries Ltd. 6.92%
Grasim Industries Ltd. 5.18%
Others 0.91%
Total 46.96%
B. Key Shareholders
Axiata Group Berhad (previously TM International Berhad), through its affiliates, has
19.1% shareholding in Idea Cellular.
Axiata is one of the largest Asian telecommunication companies focused on high growth
low penetration emerging markets.
Axiata has controlling stakes in its affiliates in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
and Cambodia, and significant
stakes in India, Singapore and Iran. The Group, including its subsidiaries and associates, has
over 150 million mobile
subscribers in Asia and provides employment to over 25,000 people across Asia.
Providence Equity Partners, through its affiliates has a 10.0% shareholding in Idea, and has
also invested INR 20,982 mn in
ABTL through Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares.
C. Corporate Structure
Idea Cellular Limited (Idea)
100% -- Idea Cellular Infrastructure Services Limited (ICISL)
100% -- Idea Cellular Services Limited (ICSL)
100% -- Swinder Singh Satara & Co Limited (SSSL)

25
100% -- Carlos Towers Limited (Carlos)
100% -- Aditya Birla Telecom Limited (ABTL)
100% -- Idea Cellular Towers Infrastructure Limited (ICTIL)
16% -- Indus Towers Limited (Indus)
ICISL – A tower company owning towers in Bihar and Orissa service areas.
ICSL – Provides manpower services to Idea.
SSSL – Engaged in the business of sale and purchase of Data Cards, Mobile Hand Sets
and Fixed Wireless Phones.
Carlos – Acquired through amalgamation of Spice Communications Ltd into Idea and
presently not having any operations.
ABTL – Holds 16% shareholding in Indus.
ICTIL – Holds towers de-merged from Idea, which will subsequently merge into
Indus.
Indus –A joint venture between Bharti Infratel, Vodafone Essar and Idea (through
ABTL), to provide passive infrastructure services in 15 service areas.
D. 3G Profile
Based on gross revenue for Mobile and UAS Licenses, as released by the TRAI.Idea was
awarded 3G spectrum in 11 important service areas, where it is in the process of rolling out
extensive 3G networks.While these areas cover ~ 50% of the Indian telecom sector revenue,
they constitute ~80% of Idea’s revenue. The 3G spectrum footprint of Idea covers all 8
service areas where Idea is # 1, #2 or #3. Idea’s existing and new spectrum footprint places
Idea in an advantageous competitive position.

E. Emerging Geographies
Over the last few quarter, Idea has strengthened its position in some of the service areas,
where it was a late entrant. The emergence of Idea as a significantplayer in these service
areas reaffirms Idea’s intrinsic competitive capabilities.
Reporting Guidelines:
To facilitate an analytical perspective, the results have been formatted and grouped as
under:
a) Standalone – Idea, and its 100% subsidiaries. Effectively, this encompasses all
operations, excluding the JVs, Spice (till February 28, 2010) and Indus. Spice

26
Communications has been amalgamated into Idea Cellular w.e.f. March 01, 2010 and
accordingly from that date Idea Standalone includes erstwhile Spice.
b) Consolidated – Idea, its 100% subsidiaries, and its JVs, grouped together. In addition
to Idea Standalone, this covers the proportionate consolidation of erstwhile Spice (41.09%
till February 28, 2010) and Indus (16%).JV financials have been consolidated as jointly
controlled entities as per “AS 27 - Financial reporting of Interests in Joint Ventures”. It may
benoted that the consolidation of financials of two or more entities requires elimination of
inter entity transactions. Illustratively, rentals paid by Idea to Indus, become expenses for
Idea and revenues for Indus, on a standalone basis. However, upon consolidation, the
proportionate revenue of Indus gets reduced to the extent contributed by Idea. The rental
expenses of Idea also stand correspondingly reduced in the consolidated financials.

Idea Cellular is an Aditya Birla Group Company, India's first truly multinational
corporation. Idea is a pan-India integrated GSM operator offering 2G and 3G services, and
has its own NLD and ILD operations, and ISP license. With revenue in excess of $4 billion;
revenue market share of nearly 15%; and subscriber base of over 121 million in FY 2013,
Idea is India’s third largest mobile operator. Idea ranks among the top 10 country operators
in the world with a traffic of over 1.5 billion minutes a day.

Idea’s robust pan-India coverage is built on a network of over 100,000 2G and 3G cell sites,
spread across over 55,000 towns in India.

Using the latest in technology, Idea provides world-class service delivery through the most
extensive network of customer touch points, comprising nearly 4,500 exclusive Idea outlets,
and over 7,000 call centre seats. Idea’s customer service delivery platform is ISO
9001:2008 certified, making it the only operator in the country to have this standard
certification for all 22 service areas and the corporate office.

Idea has consistently stayed ahead of the industry in VLR reporting. Idea’s thought
leadership on Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has enabled it to stay as the top gainer
with the highest net gain. Every 4th mobile user who exercises choice through MNP,
prefers Idea.

Idea offers a range of high-speed mobile broadband devices including Android based 3G

27
smartphones, dongles etc. Idea’s wide portfolio of 3G smartphones offer the latest in 3G
applications and high-end data services such as Idea TV, games, social networking etc. at
affordable prices.

Idea has been a pioneer in introducing customised product offerings for segmented
customers. It is the first mobile operator to introduce innovative value added services in the
Indian telephony market, and has remained ahead of the industry in data product offerings.

Idea has received several national and international recognitions for its path-breaking
innovations in mobile telephony products and services. Idea won the prestigious ‘NDTV
Business Leadership Award’ in the telecom category for its solid, consistent performance in
2012. It was the winner of ET Telecom Awards 2012, in the categories — ‘Customer
Experience Enhancement’, ‘Excellence in Marketing’, and ‘Innovative Products’. Idea also
won the ‘Best Ad Campaign of the Year’ award for the popular Honey Bunny campaign at
the Tele.Net Telecom Awards 2012.

Idea won the ‘Best Brand Campaign’ at the esteemed World Communication Awards in
2012 and 2011. It also won the GSM Association Award for ‘Best Billing and Customer
Care Solution’ for two consecutive years, and was awarded ‘Mobile Operator of the Year
Award – India’ for 2007 and 2008 at the Annual Asian Mobile News Awards.

Idea is listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange
(BSE) in India.

As India's leading GSM Mobile Services operator, IDEA Cellular has licenses to operate in
11 circles. With a customer base of over 10 million, IDEA Cellular has operations in Delhi,
Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal,
Haryana, UP-West, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala. IDEA Cellular's footprint currently
covers approximately 45% of India's population and over 50% of the potential telecom-
market.
As a leader in Value Added Services, Innovation is central to IDEA's VAS Factory. It is the
first cellular company to launch music messaging with 'Cellular Jockey', 'Background
Tones', 'Group Talk', a voice portal with 'Say IDEA' and a complete suite of Mobile Email
Services. IDEA Cellular is a publicly listed company, listed on BSE & NSE since March
2007. It is the 3rd largest mobile services operator in India with wireless revenue market

28
share at 13.9 % in Q1 FY2012 & over 100 million subscribers. Idea is a pan-India
integrated GSM operator and has its own NLD and ILD operations and ISP license.

With traffic in excess of a billion minutes a day, Idea ranks among the Top 10 country
operators in the world. Idea operates pan-India with 2G services, and 3G services are being
progressively rolled out to cover over 3,000 towns by FY 2012. Idea has a widespread
network of cell sites covering the entire the country and a service delivery platform is ISO
9001:2008 certified, making it the only operator in the country to have this standard
certification for all 22 service areas and the corporate office.
This telecom company has licenses to operate in all 22 service areas. Presently it is
operating in 13 circles. Idea Cellular value–added services like GPRS, call conference,
GSM, GPS and also provides customized solutions according to business specific needs.
With a customer base of 98 million as on August 2011, it is among top 25 telecom
companies.
Through merger and acquisitions, Idea Cellular has received established service areas for
mobile operations. In January 2001 it merged with Tata Cellular, which had service area in
Andhra Pradesh. In June 2001, through its acquisition of RPG Cellcom, it received Madhya
Pradesh service area. In January 2004 it received service areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh
and Kerala through its acquisition of Escotel Mobile Communication (Escotel). In 2006 it
became part of Aditya Birla Group. Idea Cellular has acquired 40.8% stake in Spice
Communication.
Idea has a network of over 70,000 cell sites covering the entire length and breadth of the
country. Idea has over 3,000 Service Centres servicing Idea subscribers across the country,
including 450 special Experience Zones for 3G promotion. Idea?óÔé¼Ôäós service
delivery platform is ISO 9001:2008 certified, making it the only operator in the country to
have this standard certification for all 22 service areas and the corporate office.
Milestones
It received the 'CARE' service in the 'Best Billing or Customer Care Solution' award at the
GSM Association Awards in Barcelona, <st1:country–region
w:st="on">Spain</st1:country–region>
Idea Cellular won an award for the 'Bill Flash' service at GSM Association Awards
in Barcelona.

29
Awards
Idea is the winner of The Emerging Company of the Year Award at The Economic Times
Corporate Excellence Awards 2009. IDEA Cellular also received the prestigious Avaya
GlobalConnect Award for being the Most Customer Responsive Company in the Telecom
sector in the year 2010.It won the GSM Association Award for Best Billing and Customer
Care Solution for 2 consecutive years. It was awarded Mobile Operator of the Year Award
India for 2007and 2008 at the Annual Asian Mobile News Awards.
Idea’s list of accolades includes:
- The Emerging Company of the Year Award- The Economic Times Corporate Excellence
Awards 2009.
- Most Customer Responsive Company– Telecom - Avaya Global Connect Award- 2010.
- Mobile Operator of the Year Award – India- 2007 and 2008 - Annual Asian Mobile News
Awards.
- Top 3 Best Companies to work for (in Telecom) by BT in 2011
Inception and growth
In 2000, Tata Cellular was a company providing mobile services in Andhra Pradesh. When
Birla-AT&T brought Maharashtra and Gujarat to the table, the merger of these two entities
was a reality. Thus Birla-Tata-AT&T, popularly known as Batata, was born and was later
branded as Idea.
Then Idea set sights on RPG’s operations in Madhya Pradesh which was successfully
acquired, helping Batata have a million subscribers, and the licence to be the fourth operator
in Delhi was clinched.
In 2004, Idea (the company had by then been rechristened) bought over the Escorts group’s
Escotel gaining Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West) and Kerala — and licences for three more
— UP (East), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. By the end of that year, four million
Indians were on the company’s network. In 2005, AT&T sold its investment in Idea, and
the year after Tatas also bid good bye to pursue an independent telecom business. And Idea
was left only with one promoter, the AV Birla group. Rs 2,700 crore adding Punjab and
Karnataka circles. Modi’s joint venture partner, Telekom Malaysia, invested Rs 7,000 crore
for a 14.99% stake in Idea. Just around then, Idea’s subsidiary, Aditya Birla Telecom sold a
20% stake to US-based Providence Equity Partners for over Rs 2,0000 crore.
Customer service

30
The company has its retail outlets under the "My Idea" banner. The company has also been
the first to offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers. It also offers GPRS services in
urban areas.
Idea Cellular won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and Customer Care
Solution" for 2 consecutive years.
IDEA Cellular has been recognized as the 'Most Customer Responsive Company' in the
Telecom sector, at the prestigious Avaya Global Connect Customer Responsiveness Awards
2010.
Holding
Initially the Birlas, the Tatas and AT&T Wireless each held one-third equity in the
company. But following AT&T Wireless' merger with Cingular Wireless in 2004, Cingular
decided to sell its 32.9% stake in Idea. This stake was bought by both the Tatas and Birlas
at 16.45% each.
Tata's foray into the cellular market with its own subsidiary, Tata Indicom, a CDMA-based
mobile provider, cropped differences between the Tatas and the Birlas. This dual holding by
the Tatas also became a major reason for the delay in Idea being granted a license to operate
in Mumbai. This was because as per Department of Telecommunications (DOT) license
norms, one promoter could not have more than 10% stake in two companies operating in
the same circle and Tata Indicom was already operating in Mumbai when Idea filed for its
licence.
The Birlas thus approached the DOT and sought its intervention, and the Tatas replied by
saying that they would exit Idea but only for a good price. On 10 April 2006, the Aditya
Birla Group announced its acquisition of the 48.18% stake held by the Tatas at Rs. 40.51 a
share amounting to Rs. 44.06 billion. While 15% of the 48.14% stake was acquired
by Aditya Birla Nuvo, a company in-charge of the Birlas' new business initiatives, the
remaining stake was acquired by Birla TMT holdings Private Ltd., an AV Birla family-
owned company. Currently, Aditya Birla Group holds 49.1% of the total shares of the
company. Malaysia based Axiata controls a 14.99% stake in the company.
On 19 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction in India ended. Idea paid 5768.59 crores for
spectrum in 11 circles. The circles it will provide 3G in are Andhra
Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra & Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh (East) and Uttar Pradesh (West).

31
On 28 March 2011, Idea launched 3G services in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh. The launch cities were Ahmedabad, Shimla and Indore. This makes Idea the sixth
private operator (eighth overall) to launch its 3G services in the country following Tata
Docomo, Reliance Communications, Airtel, Aircel and Vodafone.
Idea currently supports up to 21.1 Mbps over 2G speeds of 256 Kbps. However, different
handsets support different speeds, from 384 Kbps, 3.6 Mbps, 7.2 Mbps or 21.1 Mbps.
Speeds also depend on the 3G plan/recharge that users opt for.
The operator announced that IDEA 3G services will be available in 200 towns of 11 3G
circles by mid-April 2011, progressively growing at the rate of ten towns per day to cover
750 towns by mid-2011 and 4000 towns by the end of 2012.
Idea 3G Smartphone
On 23rd November, 2011 Idea Cellular launched two affordable 3G handsets in India: Idea
3G Smartphone Blade priced at 7,992 and Idea 3G Smartphone priced at 5,850. Both
handsets are based on Android 2.2 Froyo.
Pan India 3G Coverage
Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have begun collaborating to provide 3G coverage to their
customers pan india. The agreement aims to provides for these companies to offer 3G
services to their customers in circles where they have not won any spectrum. It is expected
that the 3 companies will be able to provide 3G services in all circles in india except Orissa
where the three have not won any spectrum.
3G Coverage
Idea’s 3G service is currently available in the following cities in 11 telecom circles:
Source:
Video Calling ISD Booth
On 21 September 2011, Idea inaugurated Kerala’s first Video Calling ISD booth
in Kottakkal, Malappuram. Idea has come out with the idea of setting up ISD video calling
booths wherein users can not only talk but see the person live in real-time. The person
receiving the call should be using a 3G handset on a 3G connection

32
 COMPANY PROFILE OF AIRTEL

Bharti Airtel Ltd is one of the world's leading providers of telecommunication services with
presence in 19 countries including India & South Asia and Africa. The company is the
largest wireless service provider in India, based on the number of customers. The company
offers an integrated suite of telecom solutions to its enterprise customers, in addition to
providing long distance connectivity both nationally and internationally. The Company also
offers Digital TV and IPTV Services. All these services are rendered under a unifi ed brand
'airtel' either directly or through subsidiary companies. The company operates in four
strategic business units, namely Mobile, Telemedia, Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile
business offers services in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The Telemedia business
provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 95 Indian cities. The Digital TV
business provides Direct-to-Home TV services across India. The Enterprise business
provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international
long distance services to telcos. The company also deploys, owns and manages passive
infrastructure pertaining to telecom operations under their subsidiary Bharti Infratel Ltd.
Bharti Infratel Ltd own 42% of Indus Towers Ltd. Bharti Infratel Ltd and Indus Towers Ltd
are the largest passive infrastructure service providers for telecom services in India. Bharti
Airtel Ltd was incorporated in the year 1995 with the name Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. The
company was promoted by Bharti Telecom Ltd, a company incorporated under the laws of
India. The name of the company was changed from Bharti Tele-Ventures to Bharti Airtel
Ltd with effect from April 24, 2006 in order to reflect their brand essence, objective and the
nature of their business activities. During the year 1995-96, the company launched mobile
services under the brand name 'Airtel' for the first time in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.

33
During the year 1997-98, the company became the first private telecom operator to obtain a
license to provide basic telephone services in the state of Madhya Pradesh. They
incorporated Bharti BT VSAT Ltd and Bharti BT Internet Ltd during the year. During the
year 1999-2000, the company acquired JT Mobiles for providing cellular services operator
in Punjab, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Also, they acquired Skycell, Chennai and thus,
they expanded their South Indian footprint. During the year 2001-02, they launched
IndiaOne, India's first private sector national and international long distance service. They
acquired licenses for eight new circles across India. In July 2001, the company acquired
100% equity interest in Bharti Mobitel Ltd (erstwhile Spice Cell Ltd), which provided
mobile services in the Kolkata circle. During the year 2002-03, the company launched
cellular mobile services in the circle of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (West), Haryana and Gujarat, fixed line services in the circles of
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and International Long Distance Services. They also
commenced commercial operations for their submarine cable landing station. During the
year 2003-04, the company obtained the new licenses for providing the Unified Access
Services, which include telecom circles of West Bengal (including Andaman & Nicobar and
Sikkim), Bihar (including Jharkhand), Orissa, Jammu & Kashmir and UP (East). They also
acquired interest in the telecom circles of Rajasthan and North Eastern States, through the
acquisition of 67.5% equity stake in Bharti Hexacom Ltd. During the year 2004-05, Bharti
Cellular Ltd and Bharti Infotel Ltd, subsidiaries of the company, merged with the company
with effect from April 1, 2004. Prior to merger of Bharti Cellular Ltd with the company,
Bharti Mobile Ltd operated in circles of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab merged
with Bharti Cellular Ltd. The company acquired an additional stake of 1% from Fouad M T
Al Ghanim Trading & Cont Co Kuwait one of the shareholder of Bharti Hexacom Ltd.
During the year, the company and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd entered into an agreement to
share the company's national long distance network for a period of 15 years for a
consideration of Rs 5,000 million. They entered into a regional mobile services agreement
with six other leading mobile operators, namely Globe Telecom, Philippines; Maxis,
Malaysia; Optus, Australia; SingTel, Singapore; Taiwan Cellular Corporations, Taiwan and
Talkomsel, Indonesia and formed a regional alliance, namely Bridge Alliance. In April
2005, the company through their erstwhile 100% subsidiary Bharti Infotel Ltd, which was
merged with the company acquired 100% equity stake in Bharti Broadband Ltd (formerly
known as Comsat Max Ltd) by acquiring their holding company Satcom Broadband

34
Equipment Ltd (formerly known as CMax Infocom Ltd). Also, Satcom Broadband
Equipment Ltd and Bharti Broadband Ltd were amalgamated with the company with effect
from October 1, 2005. During the year 2005-06, the company signed a managed capacity
expansion contract with Ericsson for providing managed services and expands their GSM
/GPRS network into rural India in 15 circles. Also, they entered into an agreement with
Nokia to expand their managed GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE networks in eight circles. The
company and IBM launched Managed Services under their joint go-to-market program.
During the year, Vodafone acquired 10% economic interest in the company by way of
subscription of convertible debentures in Bharti Enterprises Ltd. Also, the company entered
into strategic partnership outsourcing agreements for their customer care call center
operations with four international BPOs - Hinduja TMT (HTMT), IBM Daksh, Mphasis and
TeleTech Services. During the year 2006-07, the company incorporated seven wholly
owned subsidiaries namely Bharti Airtel (USA) Ltd, Bharti Airtel (UK) Ltd, Bharti Airtel
(Hong Kong) Ltd and Bharti Airtel (Canada) Ltd, Bharti Infratel Ltd, Bharti Telemedia Ltd
and Bharti Airtel Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. They received letter of offer from Telecommunications
Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka for providing 2G and 3G mobile services in Sri
Lanka. During the year, the company entered into agreement with Microsoft to offer
software and services for the Small and Medium Business (SMB) market in India and to
offer Microsoft's latest Windows Mobile 5.0 technology to its customer. They entered into
agreement with Google to offer search services on Airtel Mobile. Also, they entered
agreement with Adani Group to connect Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone and with
IBM to deliver India's first 'Service Delivery Platform'. In July 2006, the company launched
'Airtel Mega' Fixed Wireless Phone (FWP) services. In September 14, 2006, they acquired
43,750 thousand shares of Bharti Hexacom Ltd for an aggregate consideration of Rs
875,000 thousand thereby increasing their stake from 68.5% to 68.89%. In December 2006
the company announced their foray into USA with the launch of Airtel CallHome service
for Non-Resident Indians. In March 2007, they introduced BlackBerry 8800TM business
phone. In April 3, 2007, Bharti Airtel (Singapore) Pvt Ltd, Singapore, was incorporated for
providing Voice Interconnection, Prepaid International Calling Services, International
Private Leased Circuits and VSAT Trading. During the year 2007-08, Bharti Airtel Services
Ltd (erstwhile Bharti Comtel Ltd), the wholly owned subsidiary of the company, sold their
entire shareholding in Bharti Telemedia Ltd to the company and Bharti Enterprise Ltd in the
ratio of 40% and 60%, respectively. The company acquired 2% stake in a subsidiary of

35
IFFCO Ltd called IFFCO Kissan Sanchar Ltd at a consideration of Rs 50,125 thousand.
Also, they invested USD 1,200 thousand towards 1,200 thousand shares, of Bridge Mobile
Pte Ltd, Singapore (Bridge Mobile). During the year, the company entered into a joint
venture agreement with Vodafone Essar Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd and formed an
independent tower company namely, Indus Towers Ltd for providing passive infrastructure
services in 16 circles of India. In September 7, 2007, the company acquired 49% of the
equity in Bharti Aquanet Ltd, India, at a consideration of Rs 159,549 thousand making
Bharti Aquanet Ltd a 100% subsidiary of the company. In September 28, 2007, they
acquired 100% of the equity in Network i2i Ltd, Mauritius, at a consideration of USD
133,400 thousand. In October 1, 2007, the company incorporated a new company namely,
Bharti Airtel Holding (Singapore) Pte Ltd in Singapore as an investment holding company
of the company. In January 2008, the company transferred the passive telecom
infrastructure business of the company to Bharti Infratel Ltd. During the year 2008-09, the
company made their foray into media and television by redefining home entertainment with
Airtel digital TV. They launched their virtual calling card service 'Airtel CallHome' in UK,
Singapore and Canada. The service is targeted at the huge Indian Diaspora, Non-Resident
Indians (NRIs) and Indian students in these markets. The company launched their mobile
services in Sri Lanka under the Airtel brand. They expanded their footprint by launching
their Mobile Services in Lakshadweep. They also launched VeriSign Identity Protection
(VIP) Services for their enterprise customers in India in partnership with VeriSign. In
February 19, 2009, the company increased their stake in Bharti Hexacom Ltd by 1.11%
through acquisition of 2,780,306 equity shares for an aggregate consideration of Rs 166,818
thousand. In March 4, 2009, the company subscribed 1,470,000 equity shares (49% stake)
in Bharti Teleports Ltd for an aggregate consideration of Rs.14,700 thousand. In October
2009, the company launched live mobile comic service on their mobile entertainment
portal, Airtel Live. In October 23, 2009, they acquired an additional 55% equity stake in
their subsidiary, Bharti Telemedia Ltd for a consideration of Rs 7.38 crore. Consequently,
the total equity interest of the company in Bharti TelemediaLtd increased to 95%. In
January 12, 2010, the company agreed to acquire 70% stake in Warid Telecom, Bangladesh,
a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dhabi Group. Warid Telecom is offering mobile services
across all the 64 districts of Bangladesh. As of January 2010, the company had an aggregate
of over 131 million customers in South Asia, including 121.7 million mobile customers in
India. In March 11, 2010, the company made their debut into Media & Entertainment with

36
the launch of the Airtel Digital Media Business. With this, the company is able to offer
Content Delivery Solutions for media and entertainment sector. In June 2010, the company
acquired Zain Group's mobile operations in 15 countries across Africa for an enterprise
valuation of USD 10.7 billion. With this, the company has become the first Indian brand to
go truly global with a footprint that covers over 1.8 billion people. Also, the company has
become a major Indian MNC with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa with a
customer base of over 180 million. During the year 2010-11, the company introduced a
completely new, fresh and vibrant brand logo and identity.Apart from India and Sri Lanka,
the brand also started to offer its services to consumers in Bangladesh making the Company
a powerhouse across South Asia. Across the seas, the Company established a strong
presence in the 16 countries across the African continent. During the year, Airtel won the
'Most Preferred Cellular Service Provider Brand' award in the CNBC Awaaz Consumer
Awards 2010 for the 6th year in a row. The CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards were based
on an extensive consumer survey done by Nielsen, wherein the customers rated brands
across different categories which delivered true value for money. During the year, the
company launched 3G Services in 9 of 13 circles with 3G spectrum, empowering all 3G
customers to manage their data usage and avoid 'bill shock' with proactive, personalised and
timely data usage alerts coupled with introduction of easy-to-understand intuitive tariffs
with personalised data usage limits. They launched various new and innovative products
and services, such as airtel money, airtel call manager, airtel voice blog, airtel world SIM,
Live Aarti, LearnNext, IPTV, airtel broadband TV, Unified Service Management Centre
(uSMC), Global Data Services, airtel digital TV recorder, MAMO (My Airtel My Offer)
and i-Care directly and through its subsidiaries, which enabled it to strengthen their
leadership in an intensely competitive market. During the year, the company launched their
New Vision for India and South Asia 'By 2015, airtel will be the most loved brand,
enriching the lives of millions' inspiring and directing all stakeholders for the next stage of
growth. Also, they launched their vision for Africa 'By 2015 airtel will be the most loved
brand in the daily lives of African people'. In August 27, 2010, the ccquired the 100%
interest in Telecom Seychelles Ltd, a telecom operator of Seychelles, for an enterprise value
of USD62 million. In September 2011, the company choose Ericsson India, Nokia Siemens
Networks and Huawei Technologies as network partners to launch 3G Services in India.
These partners will plan, design, deploy and maintain a 3G HSPA Network in Bharti Airtel
3G license circles. In January 2011, the company and State Bank of India (SBI) entered into

37
a Joint Venture (JV) agreement to make available banking services to India's unbanked
millions. The newly formed entity, will harness the power of State Bank's strengths and
airtel's mobile telephony to add value to the banking and financial services sector and
empower millions of financially excluded in the country to enhance their livelihood and
quality of life. The Joint Venture will become the Business Correspondent of SBI and offer
banking products and services at affordable cost to the citizens in unbanked and other areas.

Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Mittal was in an agreement with
Germany's Siemens to manufacture push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In
1986, Mittal incorporated Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL), and his company became the first
in India to offer push-button telephones, establishing the basis of Bharti Enterprises. By the
early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first
cordless telephones. In 1992, Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In
1995, Mittal incorporated the cellular operations as Bharti Tele-Ventures and launched
service in Delhi. In 1996, cellular service was extended to Himachal Pradesh. In 1999,
Bharti Enterprises acquired control of JT Holdings, and extended cellular operations to
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, Bharti acquired control of Skycell
Communications, in Chennai. In 2001, the company acquired control of Spice Cell in
Calcutta. Bharti Enterprises went public in 2002, and the company was listed on Bombay
Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. In 2003, the cellular phone
operations were rebranded under the single Airtel brand. In 2004, Bharti acquired control of
Hexacom and entered Rajasthan. In 2005, Bharti extended its network to Andaman and
Nicobar. This expansion allowed it to offer voice services all across India. In 2009, Airtel
launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel acquired the
African operations of the Kuwait-based Zain Telecom. In March 2012, Airtel launched a
mobile operation in Rwanda.

Airtel launched "Hello Tunes", a Caller ring back tone service (CRBT), in July 2004
becoming to the first operator in India to do so. The Airtel theme song, composed by A.R.
Rahman, was the most popular tune on that year.

During the 2009–10 financial year, Bharti negotiated for its strategic partner Alcatel-
Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the tele-media business. On 31 May 2012,
Bharti Airtel awarded the three-year contract to Alcatel-Lucentfor setting up an Internet
Protocol access network (mobile backhaul) across the country. This would help consumers

38
access internet at faster speed and high quality internet browsing on mobile handsets.

On 26 February 2013, Airtel announced that it had deployed Ericsson's Mobile Broadband
Charging (MBC) solution and completely modernised its prepaid services for its subscribers
in India. As a part of the deal, Ericsson's multi service MBC suite allows prepaid customers
to have personalised profile-based data charging plans. Prepaid customers will be able to
customise their data plans across mobility, fixed line and broadband by cross bundling
across multiple domains (2G, 3G, 4G/LTE & Wi-Fi). It will also offer flexible multi service
charging in geographical redundant mode, making Airtel the first operator to implement
geographical redundancy at such a large scale. In May 2013, Bharti Infotel paid Rs 50,000
as compensation to a customer "for unfair trade practices". The customer alleged that the
company continued to aggressively demand payment despite customer requests for
disconnection of service.

Airtel was Established in 1985, Bharti (Airtel) has been a pioneering force in the Telecom
Sector.Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, Airtel comes to you from Bharti
Airtel Limited, India’s largest integrated and the first private telecom India’s largest
integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the
23services provider with a footprint in all the 23telecom circles. telecom circles. The
businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been
structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s)into three individual
strategic business units (SBU’s)- Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services &- Mobile
Services, Airtel Telemedia Services &Enterprise Services.Enterprise Services.
Bharti Airtel is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications
services based on an providers of telecommunications services based on anaggregate of
66,689,943 customers aggregate of 66,689,943 customers Approx 64,370,434 GSM mobile
subscribers. Approx 64,370,434 GSM mobile subscribers. Approx 2,319,509 Bharti
Telemedia subscribers. Approx 2,319,509 Bharti Telemedia subscribers. Bharti has recently
entered into retail business as Bharti has recently entered into retail business as Bharti
Retail Pvt. Ltd. Bharti Retail Pvt. Ltd.

39
Fact sheet

Name : Bharti Airtel Limited Name : Bharti Airtel LimitedBusiness Description : Provides
mobile, telemediaBusiness Description : Provides mobile, telemedia services (fixed line)
and enterprise services (carriers services (fixed line) and enterprise services (carriers&
services to corporate)& services to corporate)Established : July 07, 1995, as a Public
Limited Established : July 07, 1995, as a Public Limited Company Proportionate Revenue :
Rs. 184,202 million (year Proportionate Revenue : Rs. 184,202 million (year ended March
31, 2007-Audited)Rs. 117,255 millionended March 31, 2007-Audited)Rs. 117,255
million(year ended March 31, 2006-Audited)(year ended March 31, 2006-Audited)Shares in
Issue : 1,897,148,464 as at June 30, 2007Shares in Issue : 1,897,148,464 as at June 30, 2

Listings : The Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE), The National Stock Exchange of India
Limited (NSE). National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE).Market Capitalisation :
Market Capitalisation (as on Market Capitalisation : Market Capitalisation(as on January
16, 2009)January 16, 2009)Approx. Rs. 1,201 billion Approx. Rs. 1,201 billion Closing
BSE share price = Rs. 632.85Closing BSE share price = Rs. 632.85Customer Base :
64,370,434 GSM mobile and Customer Base : 64,370,434 GSM mobile and2,319,509
telemedia customers (Status as at month2,319,509 telemedia customers (Status as at month
ended April 30, 2008)ended April 30, 2008)Operational Network : Provides GSM mobile
services Operational Network : Provides GSM mobile services in all the 23 telecom circles
in India, and was the first in all the 23 telecom circles in India, and was the first private
operator to have an all India presence. private operator to have an all India presence.
Provides telemedia services (fixed line) in 94 cities in Provides telemedia services (fixed
line) in 94 cities in India. India.
Business
Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel
Limited, India’s largest integrated and the first private India’s largest integrated and the first
private telecom services provider with a footprint in all telecom services provider with a
footprint in all the 23 telecom circles the 23 telecom circles. The businesses at Bharti Airtel
have been. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual
strategic business structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s) - Mobile
Services, Airtel Telemediaunits (SBU’s) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services &

40
Enterprise Services. Services & Enterprise Services. The mobile business provides mobile
& fixed. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed wireless services using GSM
technology across wireless services using GSM technology across23 telecom circles
Airtel Telemedia Services business offers broadband & telephone services in 94broadband
& telephone services in 94cities.cities.The Enterprise services provide end-to-The
Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate end telecom solutions
to corporate customers and national & international customers and national & international
long distance services to carriers. long distance services to carriers. All these services are
provided under the All these services are provided under the Airtel brand Airtel brand
Share Price
BSE (Bombay stock exchange)BSE (Bombay stock exchange)Price 632.85Price
632.85NSE (national stock exchange)NSE (national stock exchange)Price 634.75Price
634.75Bharti Airtel offered 185,336,700 equity shares in Bharti Airtel offered 185,336,700
equity shares in the initial public offering (IPO) and raised Rs the initial public offering
(IPO) and raised Rs8,340.15 million through this process.8,340.15 million through this
process.
The equity shares of Bharti Airtel are currently The equity shares of Bharti Airtel are
currently listed on National Stock Exchange of India listed on National Stock Exchange of
India Limited (NSE) and The Stock Exchange, Mumbai, Limited (NSE) and The Stock
Exchange, Mumbai,(BSE).(BSE).
Partners
The company has a strategic alliance with The company has a strategic alliance with Sing
Tel Sing Tel The company’s mobile network equipment partners The company’s mobile
network equipment partner sare Ericsson and Nokia. are Ericsson and Nokia. In the case of
the broadband and telephone services In the case of the broadband and telephone services
and enterprise services (carriers), equipment suppliers and enterprise services (carriers),
equipment suppliers include Siemens, Nortel, Corning, among others. include Siemens,
Nortel, Corning, among others
Mission
Company will meet the mobile communication needs of his customers through Error- free
service delivery Innovative products and services Cost efficiency Unified Messaging
Solutions.

41
 Milestones:
2011 Bharti Airtel and other global telcos launch EIG for Commercial use
2011 Bharti Airtel partners with Savvis for enhancing Managed Service offerings
2010 Bharti Airtel launches high capacity direct terrestrial link between India and China
2010 Bharti Airtel rated as India Best Enterprise Connectivity Provider
2010 Bharti Airtel launches Global Data Services in Thailand & Malaysia

Achievements/ recognition:–

 Airtel wins top honours at the 7th Frost & Sullivan ICT Awards 2008
 Bharti Airtel hs been awarded the 'Best Cellular Service Provider' and 'Best Broadband
Service Provider' at the 2008 V&D 100 Awards.
 Bharti Airtel has been voted as India 's most innovative company , in a survey conducted
by The Wall Street Journal.
 Airtel has been voted the 2nd Most Trusted Service Brand in the Annual Economic
Times–Brand Equity, Most Trusted Brands survey.
 Airtel has won the Platinum Trusted Brand Award in the Mobile Service provider
category in the Reader's Digest Asia Trusted Brands Survey .
 Airtel bagged 'Wireless Service Provider of the Year' award at the 2008 Frost & Sullivan
Asia Pacific ICT Awards.
 Voted India”s most innovative company in a survey conducted by The Wall Street
Journal in 2008
 Winner of the Gallup Great Workplace Award -Gallup Consulting, 2008
 2nd Most Trusted Service Brand– Annual Economic Times–Brand Equity, Most Trusted
Brands survey 2008
 Best Content Service Award for its Farmer Information Dissemination Platform for
Bharti Airtel joint venture with IFFCO, IKSL (IFFCO Kisan Samachar) – World
Communications Awards 2008
 Best Project Management Award for its Gujarat e–GRAM project – World
Communications Awards 2008
 Best Telecom Company at the NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards
 Best Carrier India for innovative products & services and efficient cost models and the
Ovum Telco–Transformation award recognizing philosophy and execution of a successful

42
 outsourcing strategy at the Telecom Asia Awards 2008
 Sunil Bharti Mittal was awarded the GSM Association Chairman Award 2008. The
highest honour in global telecom sector, recognized his tremendous contribution to the
development of India telecom sector
 Sunil Bharti Mittal adjudged the Business Leader Transforming India, 2008 at the NDTV
Profit Business Leadership Awards
 Bharti Airtel has won the Most Preferred Cellular Service Provider Brand award at the
CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards in Mumbai.
 Bharti Airtel has received the prestigious Businessworld–FICCI–SEDF Corporate Social
Responsibility Award 2009–2010.

DIRECTORS REPORT:
Dear Shareholders,
Your Directors have pleasure in presenting the 18th Annual Report on the Company's
business and operations, together with the audited financial statements for the year
ended March 31, 2013.
Company Overview
Bharti Airtel continued to be among the top four mobile service providers globally with
presence in 20 countries, including India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and 17 countries in the
African continent. The Company's diversified service range includes mobile, voice and data
solutions using 2G, 3G and 4G technologies. Its service portfolio also comprises an
integrated suite of telecom solutions to its customers, besides providing Long–distance
connectivity in India, Africa and rest of the world. The Company also offers Digital TV and
IPTV services in India.
ALL these services are rendered under a unified brand 'airtel', either directly or through
subsidiary companies. The Company also deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure
pertaining to telecom operations through its subsidiary, Bharti Infratel Limited, which owns
42% of Indus Towers Limited. Together, Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers are the Largest
passive infrastructure service providers in India.
Financial Results
In Line with the statutory guidelines, the Company has adopted International Financial
Reporting Standards (IFRS) for accounts consolidation from FY 2010–11.
The financial results and the results of operations have further been discussed in detail in

43
the Management Discussion and Analysis section.
Share Capital
During the year, there was no change in the Companys issued, subscribed and paid–up
equity share capital. On March 31, 2013, it stood at Rs. 18,987,650,480, divided into
3,797,530,096 equity shares of Rs. 5 each.
General Reserve
An amount of Rs. 3,830 Mn has been transferred to the General Reserve out of Bharti
Airtels total standalone profit of Rs. 50,963 Mn for the financial year ended March 31,
2013.
Dividend
The Board recommends a final dividend of Rs. 1 per equity share of Rs. 5 each (20% of
face value) for the financial year 2012–13. The total dividend payout will amount to Rs.
3,798 Mn excluding tax on dividend. The payment of dividend is subject to the approval of
the shareholders in the Companys ensuing Annual General Meeting.
Transfer of Amount to Investor Education and Protection Fund
Since the Company declared its maiden dividend in August 2009 for the FY 2008–09, no
unclaimed dividend is due for transfer to Investor Education and Protection Fund.
Fixed Deposits
The Company has not accepted any fixed deposits and, as such, no amount of principal or
interest was outstanding, as on the balance sheet closure date.
Capital Market Ratings
As on March 31, 2013, Bharti Airtel is rated by two domestic rating agencies, namely
CRISIL and ICRA, and two international rating agencies, viz. Fitch Ratings and S&P.
1. CRISIL and ICRA revised their long–term ratings of the Company. Currently, they rate
the Company at [CRISIL] AA+/[ICRA] AA+ with a stable outlook. Short–term ratings
were reaffirmed at the highest end of the rating scale at [CRISIL] A1+/[ICRA] A1+
2. Fitch Ratings and S&P reaffirmed their respective ratings at BBB– with negative outlook
and BB+ with stable outlook
Employee Stock Option Plan
The Company presently has two Employee Stock Option (ESOP) schemes, namely the
(Employee Stock Option Scheme 2001) and the Employee Stock Option Scheme 2005.
Besides attracting talent, the Schemes also helped to retain talent and experience.

44
Both the above mentioned ESOP schemes are presently administered through a Trust,
whereby the shares held / acquired by the Trust are transferred to the employees upon
exercises of stock options as per the terms of the Scheme.
In view of the recent Circular issued by SEBI, the Company stopped acquiring further
shares from the open market toward appropriation of the same for the ESOP scheme 2005.
The shares acquired/held by the Trust prior to the circular will be utilised to administer the
above schemes in accordance with the applicable regulations.
The ESOP Compensation Committee, constituted in accordance with the Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Employee Stock Option Scheme and Employee Stock Purchase
Scheme) Guidelines, 1999 (the SEBI Guidelines), administers and monitors the Companys
ESOP schemes. The applicable disclosures as stipulated under the SEBI Guidelines, as on
March 31, 2013, are provided in Annexure C to this report.
A certificate from M/s. S. R. Batliboi & Associates LLP, Chartered Accountants, Statutory
Auditors, with respect to the implementation of the Companys ESOP schemes, would be
placed before the shareholders at the ensuing Annual General Meeting. A copy of the same
will also be available for inspection at the Companys registered office.
Branding
FY 2012–13 was marked by significant achievements on the brand front. Strategic
repositioning of brand airtel was accelerated to make it younger, livelier and better
connected. The brand followed a coherent strategy for a younger and fresher brand
anchored in the Friendship communication territory.
In India, various advertisement campaigns, including Har Friend Zaroori, Jo Mera Hai TV
Commercial and others enhanced the popularity of brand airtel further. Airtel Rising Stars
gained more popularity in 2012, as it engaged the youth across India, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh. Our association with Manchester United was leveraged, allowing young people
to go for training at the Manchester Soccer School Academy, UK. In 2012, Bharti Airtel
helped ingrain the love for F1 sport in the minds of the Indian audience through the stars
Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.
In Africa, Innovative trade branding toolkits were successfully rolled out in all countries.
During the year, over 650,000 square metres of wall branding were completed, and Picture
of Success (PICOS) rolled out in over 231,000 retail outlets, 625 express shops and about
6,000 pan–Africa extra outlets. The Company also created airtel Smartphones logo for
device merchandising, which was implemented in 13 countries. ARS Africa Championship,

45
the largest and first–of–its–kind youth soccer tournament for boys and girls in the continent,
was successfully inaugurated in Nairobi, Kenya. As many as 15 countries participated in the
event, which was endorsed and flagged off by the Kenyan Prime Minister. The Company
rolled out airtel Football TV Show on DSTV, which premiered on the popular SuperSport
channel. It also launched digital platforms for consumer engagement via airtel–football.com
and facebook.com/AirtelFootball.
The Company completely revamped its internet and social media presence. This initiative
helped increase its community sizes by more than 600% to over 7 Mn and created one of
Indias buzziest and most engaging social media brands.
Brand airtel was ranked as No. 1 among the service brands in 2012 by Brand Equitys Most
Trusted Brand Survey. It also won several awards, including seven Abbies at GoaFest, four
Effies, three Bloomberg Brand Leadership awards, CNNIBNs Brand of the Year award,
Yahoos 360 Campaign of the Year award, agency faqs third Buzziest Indian Brand and so
on. Bharti Airtel captured the numero uno position among telecom brands in Economic
Times Brand Trust ratings. It also entered the Financial Times Londons list of Top 100
Global Brands. The Nigeria Half Dollar campaign was listed as a finalist in the Facebook
Studio Awards.
Major Agreements and Alliances
The Company signed the following key agreements/alliances in the year under review with:
1. Ericsson for Access Agnostic Packet Core catering to 2G, 3G and, in future, 4G
customers in all countries of Africa.
2. HP to provide Cloud–enabled platform (CLEP) to offer Cloud–based services across all
geographies in Africa.
3. Ceragon, NSN and Ericsson for supply and installation of Trunk Microwave to create
high–capacity backbones across all geographies in Africa.
4. Huawei and Ericsson for IN system to implement latest features, hardware modernisation
and geographical redundancy in India.
5. Cisco and Alcatel Lucent (using Ruckus technology) to deploy Wi–Fi hotspots in high
footfall areas in top Indian cities.
6. Spirent, Agilent Technologies, Rohde & Schwarz, JDSU and IXIA Wirtel to augment our
state–of–the–art, inhouse validation laboratory capabilities for India.
7. Microsoft to launch Office 365 (O365) product for its subscribers in India through airtel
Cloud Enablement Platform.

46
8. TURNER for two new advertisement–free channels on airtel digital TV in India, namely
HBO Hits and HBO Defined, to deliver a new, premium movie–viewing experience to the
subscribers.
9. SAREGAMA and Timbre Media to provide 12 radio channels for iMusicspace service on
airtel digital TV to enable genre–wise music–listening experience to the subscribers.
New Products/Initiatives
During the year under review, the Company launched various new and innovative products
and services, directly as well as through its subsidiaries. These offerings enabled it to
strengthen its leadership in an intensely competitive market. Some of the key
launches/initiatives across geographies during the year in retrospect are discussed below.
India
Superior customer experience has been at the heart of all initiatives and products that were
launched during the year. The Companys presence across platforms 2G, 3G, 4G and DSL
enables our customers to experience data across screens. For improved data experience, we
launched near real–time GPRS usage monitoring tool and, thereby reduced customer
complaints.
To improve platinum and solitaire customer satisfaction, the Company initiated several
focused programmes like priority access at call centres and offering attractive deals and
discounts.
With our focus on customer convenience, adding non–traditional channels of contact
became a focus area. We have established our presence across popular social networking
sites and online forums.
During 2012–13, we undertook several key initiatives including the
following:
1. Launched 4G services in Pune, followed by Chandigarh, taking the total number of cities
with 4G services to four (Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune and Chandigarh).
2. Developed Apps and Games Store with APPIA, which is ranked third globally as an
Apps and games Store, and helped consumers download data; a maximum of 100,000
downloads were performed in a day.
3. Launched HD gaming, offering high–definition games for smartphones like android and
3G devices.
4. Launched airtel live Wap portal in Hindi to open up the world of internet for even a

47
larger number of consumers.
5. Collaborated strategically with Opera Browser to enhance Mobile Internet browsing
experience on 2G networks.
6. Integrated Billing API with Nokia Store to help customers pay from their airtel wallet
and download apps and games from Nokia Store.
7. Launched mBazaar, a unique service, which uses an innovative business model of lead
generation to provide a market place to customers and enables an unlimited search and
deals at the location nearest to them at a very nominal price.
8. Introduced Rural Portal – a first–of–its–kind innovative service catering to the rural
segment.
9. Launched the unique Emergency Alerts service to enable subscribers send instant and
automatic alerts.
10. Introduced new innovative services in the DTH business; added recording facility on
High Definition (HD) boxes to help a customer record content on USB drives, while
watching his/her favourite channel on High Definition (HD) Set Top Boxes and Digital
Video Recorders (DVR) with 3D capabilities.
11. Introduced iExam with content on Bank PO, MBA, Medical, Class 8th, 9th and 10th
exams.
12. Opened up money transfer through airtel money to any bank account in India on the
non–KYC Express wallet, along with P2P transfers to any other airtel money account.
13. Partnered with Axis Bank to launch the Super Account in May 2012 to help customers
save and earn interest on their airtel money account, as well as cash–out according to their
requirement.
Africa
1. Implemented Cloud Portal (without Billing) for Nigeria
2. Introduced 64K SIM Standardisation in 14 countries to ensure higher capacity SIM card
availability to increase VAS content for the subscriber and to standardise SIM card profiles
across the African countries.
3. Implemented Doctor on Call in Malawi to give customers the opportunity to consult
doctors over mobile phone.
4. Launched BB10 in Nigeria, making it the first country to introduce this BlackBerry
device that offers new look and feel and provides a different BlackBerry experience; the
operators infrastructure, as well as the way the BlackBerry services will be packaged and

48
commercialised are also different
Directors
During the year under review w.e.f. September 06, 2012, Lord Evan Mervyn Davies and
H.E. Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim and w.e.f. September 26, 2012, Mr. Akhil Gupta, Mr. Rakesh
Bharti Mittal and Mr. Hui Weng Cheong ceased to be the Directors and Mr. N. Kumar
retired from the Board w.e.f. February 01, 2013. The Directors place on record their
appreciation for the help, guidance and contribution made by them during their tenure as
Directors.
Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili and Mr. Manish Kejriwal were appointed as Additional Directors
w.e.f. September 26, 2012. They will cease to hold office at the forthcoming Annual
General Meeting and are eligible for re–appointment. The Company has received notices
from members under Section 257 of the Companies Act, 1956, proposing the appointment
of Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili and Mr. Manish Kejriwal as the Companys Non–Executive
Directors. The Board recommends their appointment.
Mr. Manoj Kohli and Mr. Gopal Vittal were also appointed as Managing Director and Joint
Managing Director, respectively, of the Company for a period of five years w.e.f. February
01, 2013. The approval of the members was obtained for this through postal ballot notice
dated February 1, 2013.
Ms. Tan Yong Choo, Mr. Ajay Lal and Mr. Pulak Prasad retire by rotation at the
forthcoming Annual General Meeting. Ms. Tan Yong Choo and Mr. Ajay Lal, being
eligible, have offered themselves for re–appointment. In terms of the policy on Independent
Directors adopted by the Board, Mr. Pulak Prasad, Independent Director, has completed his
term of office and does not seek re–appointment for succeeding term in the ensuing Annual
General Meeting.
A brief resume of the Directors proposed to be appointed / re–appointed, as stipulated under
Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement with the Stock Exchanges, is appended as an annexure
to the Notice of the ensuing Annual General Meeting.
Subsidiary Companies
As on March 31, 2013, your Company has 119 subsidiary companies, as set out in page no.
227 of the Annual Report (for abridged Annual Report please refer page no. 87).
Pursuant to the General Circular No. 2/2011, dated February 8, 2011, issued by the Ministry
of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, the Board of Directors have consented for not

49
attaching the balance sheet, statement of profit & loss, and other documents, as set out in
Section 212(1) of the Companies Act, 1956, in respect of its subsidiary companies, for the
year ended March 31, 2013.
Annual accounts of these subsidiary companies, along with related information, are
available for inspection at the Companys registered office and the registered office of the
respected subsidiary companies. Copies of the Annual Report of the subsidiary companies
will also be made available to the investors of Bharti Airtel and those of the subsidiary
companies upon request.
The statement pursuant to the above referred circular is annexed on page no. 93 of the
Abridged Annual Report and page no. 234 of the full version Annual Report.

Abridged Financial Statements

In terms of the provisions of Section 219(1)(b)(iv) of the Companies Act, 1956, the Board
of Directors has decided to circulate printed copy of the Abridged Annual Report containing
salient features of the balance sheet and the statement of profit & loss to the shareholders
for the financial year 2012–13, who have not registered their email id. Full version of the
Annual Report will be available on the Companys website, www.airtel.com, and will be
sent to the investors by email. To support the green initiative of the Ministry of Corporate
Affairs, the Company has also decided to send all communications, including the Annual
Report, through email to those shareholders, who have registered their email id with their
depository participant/Companys registrar and share transfer agent. If a shareholder wishes
to receive a printed copy of such communications, he/she may please send a request to the
Company, the same will be sent a printed copy of the communication.
Management Discussion & Analysis Report
Managements Discussion and Analysis Report for the year under review, as stipulated
under Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement with the Stock Exchanges in India, is presented
in a separate section forming a part of the Annual Report.
Corporate Governance
The Company is committed to maintain the highest standards of Corporate Governance.
The Company adhere to the requirements set out by SEBIs Corporate Governance practices.
The Company has implemented all the stipulations prescribed.
A detailed report on Corporate Governance, pursuant to the requirements of Clause 49 of

50
the Listing Agreement, forms a part of the Annual Report. However, in terms of the
provisions of Section 219(1)(b)(iv) of the Act and Clause 32 of the Listing Agreement, the
abridged Annual Report, excluding this report, will be sent to the Companys members.
Members who desire to obtain the full version of the report may write to the Company
Secretary at the registered office address and will be provided with a copy of the same. A
certificate from the Companys Auditors, M/s. S. R. Batliboi & Associates LLP, Chartered
Accountants,Gurgaon, confirming compliance of conditions of Corporate Governance, as
stipulated under Clause 49, is annexed to the report as Annexure A.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Responsibility Report

At Bharti Airtel, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) encompasses much more than
social outreach programmes. It lies at the heart of the Companys business operations.
Detailed information on the Companys CSR initiatives is provided in this Annual Reports
CSR section and the Business Responsibility Report.
SEBI, vide its Circular CIR/CFD/DIL/8/2012 dated August 13, 2012, mandated the top 100
listed entities, based on market capitalisation at BSE and NSE, to include Business
Responsibility Report as a part of the Annual Report describing the initiatives taken by the
companies from Environmental, Social and Governance perspective.
Accordingly, a detailed report on Corporate Social Responsibility and Business
Responsibility Report forms a part of the Annual Report. However, in terms of the
provisions of Section 219(1)(b)(iv) of the Act and Clause 32 of the Listing Agreement, the
Abridged Annual Report, excluding this report, will be sent to the Companys members.
Members who desire to obtain the full version of the report may write to the Company
Secretary at the registered office address and will be provided with a copy of the same.
Sustainability Journey
Sustainability initiatives have been integral to the Companys journey since inception. The
last two years witnessed the Company adding a more comprehensive and structured
sustainability plan with active cooperation of all stakeholders. The objective is to benefit
our community and the planet through all our operations and engagements. Bharti Airtel is
strengthening its efforts on issues like climate change, employee engagement, waste
management, digital inclusion and impact on communities, among many others. The
Company is committed to maintain the highest standards of governance, safety and

51
environmental performance across the value chain. The Company released its first
sustainability report 2012 highlighting its various initiatives.
Statutory Auditors
The Companys Statutory Auditors, M/s. S. R. Batliboi & Associates LLP, Chartered
Accountants, Gurgaon, retire at the conclusion of the Companys ensuing Annual General
Meeting and have confirmed their willingness and eligibility for re–appointment.
The Company has received letters from the Auditors to the effect that their re–appointment,
if made, would be within the prescribed limits under Section 224(1B) of the Companies
Act, 1956, and that they are not disqualified for re–appointment within the meaning of
Section 226 of the said Act.
Auditors Report
The Board has duly examined the Statutory Auditors Report to the accounts, which is self
explanatory. Clarifications, wherever necessary, have been included in the Notes to
Accounts section of the Annual Report.
As regards the comments under para i(a) of the annexure to the Independent Auditors
Report regarding updation of quantitative and situation details relating to certain fixed
assets, the Company has strengthened its processes whereby the fixed assets register for
new assets is being updated for the quantitative and situation details on a real time basis.
The Company has made significant progress in updation of the situation details for majority
of the sites for past period capitalisation, and intends to complete the site wise updation of
quantitative details as per the ongoing physical verification plan.
Cost Auditors
Pursuant to the direction of the Central Government, the Company has appointed M/s. R. J.
Goel & Co., Cost Accountants, as Cost Auditors for FY 2013–14. The Cost Auditors will
submit their report for FY 2012–13 to the Government on or before the due date.

Secretarial Audit Report

The Company has appointed M/s. Chandrasekaran Associates, Company Secretaries, New
Delhi, to conduct its Secretarial Audit for the financial year ended March 31, 2013. The
Auditors have submitted their report confirming compliance with all the applicable
provisions of various corporate laws. The Secretarial Audit Report is provided separately in
the Annual Report. In terms of the provisions of Section 219(1)(b)(iv) of the Act and Clause

52
32 of the Listing Agreement, the abridged Annual Report, excluding this annexure, will be
sent to the Companys members. Members who desire to obtain this information may write
to the Company Secretary at the registered office address and will be provided with a opy of
the same.
Particulars of Employees
The information, as required to be provided in terms of Section 217(2A) of the Companies
Act, 1956, read with Companies (Particular of Employees) Rules, 1975, have been set out
in the annexure to this report. In terms of the provisions of Section 219(1)(b)(iv) of the Act
and Clause 32 of the Listing Agreement, the Abridged Annual Report, excluding this
annexure, will be sent to the Companys members. Members who desire to obtain this
information may write to the Company Secretary at the registered office address and will be
provided with a copy of the same.
Energy Conservation, Technology Absorption, and Foreign Exchange
Earnings and Outgo
Being a service providing organisation, most of the information of the Company, as
required under Section 217(1)(e) of the Companies Act, 1956, read with the Companies
(Disclosure of particulars in the report of the Board of Directors) Rules, 1988, as amended,
is not applicable. However, the information, as applicable, has been given in Annexure
B to this report.
Directors Responsibility Statement
Pursuant to Section 217(2AA) of the Companies Act, 1956, the Directors, to the best of
their knowledge and belief, confirm that:
I. The applicable accounting standards have been followed, along with proper explanation
relating to material departures, in the preparation of the annual accounts for the year ended
March 31, 2013.
II. They have selected and applied consistently and made judgments and estimates that are
reasonable and prudent to give a true and fair view of the Companys state of affairs and
profits, as at the end of the financial year.

53
 CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

54
 CHAPTER -3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology of the Study

The advanced learner’s dictionary of current English lays down the meaning of research as “a
careful investigation or enquiry specialty search for new facts in any branch of knowledge.”
Redman and Mory define research as a “systematized effort to gain new knowledge.”
According to Clifford woody “research comprises defining and redefining problems,
formulating hypothesis or suggesting solutions,collecting,organising and evaluating data,
making deductions and reaching conclusions and at least carefully testing the conclusions to
determine whether the fit the formulating hypothesis.
Research methodology is considered as the nerve of the project. Without a proper well-
organized research plan, it is impossible to complete the project and reach to any conclusion.
The project was based on the survey plan. The main objective of survey was to collect
appropriate data, which work as a base for drawing conclusion and getting result.
Therefore, research methodology is the way to systematically solve the research problem.
Research methodology not only talks of the methods but also logic behind the methods used
in the context of a research study and it explains why a particular method has been used in the
preference of the other methods.

3.1. Research Design

Research design is important primarily because of the increased complexity in the market as
well as marketing approaches available to the researchers. In fact, it is the key to the
evolution of successful marketing strategies and programmers. It is an important tool to study
buyer’s behaviour, consumption pattern, brand loyalty, and focus market changes. A research
design specifies the methods and procedures for conducting a particular study. According to
Ker linger, “Research Design is a plan, conceptual structure, and strategy of investigation
conceived as to obtain answers to research questions and to control variance.
There are two main approaches to a research problem:
 Quantitative Research
 Qualitative Research

55
3.1 SOURCES OF DATA

Secondary data:
The sources from which secondary data was collected:
 Press releases of the company.
 Newsletters and In-house journals.
 Brochures and detailed descriptive leaflets.
 Magazines
 Websites such aswww.amul.com and www.google.com.These were the sources from which secondary
data has been gathered. Most of the information presented in this report was extracted from the
above data sources.

Primary data:
Collection of primary data was conducted by visiting the people personally for thepopulation
for the preparation of the report.
i) Research approach:
It means the way by which the information was collected. Visiting the various places of Pune,
getting the questionnaire filled by different individuals.
Beside this, frequent visit to the retailers was of great help to conduct the analysis and
research work.
Contact methods:
Instrument or Data collected Forms:
It is the method by which data is gathered. It could be done through various instruments
like questionnaires, observations, getting information from the shopkeepers was sufficient
enough to conduct the study.

ii) Collection of information:

The primary information was collected by face-to-face and direct interviews with the
retailers and the customers. They provide the relevant information regarding the profile of the
company as compared to the other company in the Indian market. The secondary sources of
information were various web sites of the companies, newspapers & magazines.

56
iii) Analyzing the information:
The data collected was carefully analyzed. The research and analysis of the information has
been done on the basis of various sales and marketing strategies adopted by the company
during its tenure.

iv) Reporting and conclusions and recommendations:

This is the most vital part of the work undertaken. After collection and analysis of data, itwas
recorded in the form as prescribed. The major part of the report is the findings.

SAMPLE SIZE
SAMPLE SIZE: 100 Customers
AREA SELECTED: NORTH DELHI

Sample design
 Population
 Sample size
 Sampling method

SAMPLING

Sampling is the process of selecting units (e.g., people, organizations) from a population
of interest so that by studying the sample we may fairly generalize our results back to the
population from which they were chosen. Researchers rarely survey the entire population
because the cost of a census is too high. The three main advantages of sampling are that the
cost is lower, data collection is faster, and since the data set is smaller it is possible to ensure
homogeneity and to improve the accuracy and quality of the data. The methodology used to
sample from a larger population will depend on the type of analysis being performed, but will
include simple random sampling, systematic sampling and observational sampling.

.SAMPLING TECHNIQUE USED

In this project the technique of sampling used was convenient sampling.
Convenient sampling is a statistical method of drawing representative data by selecting
people because of the ease of their volunteering or selecting units because of

57
their availability or easy access. The advantages of this type of sampling are the availability
and the quickness with which data can be gathered. The disadvantages are the risk that
the sample might not represent the population as a whole, and it might be biased
by volunteers. For example, a study to determine the average age and sex of gamblers at a
casino that is conducted for three hours on a weekday afternoon might be overrepresented by
elderly people who have retired and underrepresented by people of working age Also called
accidental sampling.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

 Many times respondents do not provide reasonable information for analyzing the report.
 My research work period witness the biggest ups and downs in product sale of only one
brand, which affected the perception of the customer. This was biggest drawback of my
study.
 Time factor was also important for me.
 I had only found the upper-middle class family to fill up the questionnaire, but generally,
an average middle class family was required for the study.
 Because of illiteracy, it was a time consuming method in which continuous guidance was
required.
 Questionnaire method involves some uncertainty of response. Co-operation on the part of
informants, in some cases, was difficult to presume.
 It is possible that the information supplied by the informants may be incorrect. So, the
study may lack accuracy.

58
 CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND
INTERPRETATION

59
 CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Q.1Which network are you using currently?

Idea AIRTEL

No.of respondents No of respondents

70 30

30

Idea
Airtel

70

Out of the 40 respondents who have answered the questions of this questionnaire, about
30% i.e. 12 respondent turned out to be Airtel users, while a large proportion i.e. 70% or 28
respondent are Idea subscribers. This shows that Idea network is preferred by more people as
compared to Airtel.

60
Q.2 Do you find the rates being offered by the network provider cheaper?

Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
26 3
2 9

30 2
25
20
26
15
10 9

5 3
0
Idea Airtel

yes no

Out of 12 Airtel Subscribers only 25% i.e. 3 subscribers agreed that the rates offered by
Airtel network are cheap, on the other hand out of 28 Idea subscribers about 93% i.e. 26
agreed that the network provides services at cheaper rates.

61
Q.3 Does the network provides you uninterrupted service 24x7?

Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
75 42
25 58

About 42% respondents i.e. 5 out of 12 Airtel subscribers agreed that the network provides
uninterrupted service 24x7, where as 75 % respondent i.e. 21 out of 28 Idea subscribers
agreed that the network provides uninterrupted service 24x.7

62
Q.4 Does the network provides quicker grievance redressed through customer
care?
Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
23 4
5 8

30
5
25

20
no
15 yes
23
10 8

5
4
0
Idea Airtl

Around 1/3 respondents i.e. 4 out of 12 Airtel subscribers agreed that the network provides
their grievance redressed quickly on the other hand 82% respondent i.e. 23 out of 28 Idea
subscribers agreed that the network provides their grievance redressed quickly.

63
Q.5 Do you find the advertisement of the network appealing and convincing?

Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
89 75
11 25

Through the analysis of respondents feedback, it can be said that Airtel network is preferred
and used by the subscribers more because of its Advertisement as 75% respondent i.e. 9 out
of 12 Airtel subscribers said that it’s advertisement is more appealing and convincing where
as 70% respondents i..e 20 out of 28 Idea subscribers said that it’s advertisement is more
appealing.

64
Q.6 Have you been using the network before Mobile Number Portability
(MNP)?

Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
12 6
16 6

100%
16 6
80%

60%

40% 6
12
20%

0%
Idea Airtel

yes no

Around 50 % respondent i.e. 6 out of 12 Airtel subscribers said that they have been using the
network before MNP and rest 50 % have switched to Airtel by using MNP whereas 12 out of
28 Idea subscribers i.e. 43 % have been using the network before MNP and 57 % i.e. 16
subscribers they have changed their network to Idea using MNP.

65
Q.7. Do you want to switch to your old network or some other network?

Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
93 75
7 25

A major proportion of 93% i.e. 26 out of 28 Idea subscribers do not want to switch to some
other or their old network whereas 50% respondents i.e. 6 out of 12 Airtel subscribers want to
switch to some other network.

66
Q.8.Do you use the new schemes offered by the network provider (like
message card, internet services etc)?

Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
20 5
8 7

30

25 8

20
no
15 yes
20
10 7

5 5

0
Idea Airtel

Around 42 % i.e. 5 out of 12 Airtel Subscriebrs use other schemes provided by the network
whereas 70% i.e. 20 out of 28 Idea subscriebrs use the other schemes provided by the
network .

67
Q. 9 Do you find the network better and economical as compared to other

networks?
Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
89 25
11 75

Idea

11

yes

89

Airtel

25

1
75 2

Only 25 % respondent i..e 3 out of 12 Airtel subscribers agreed that they find the network
better and economical as compared to other network whereas 89% respondent i.e. 25 out of
28 Idea users find the network economical .

68
Q.10. Are you satisfied with the billing done by the network provider?

Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
21 4
7 8

30
7
25

20
no
15 yes
21
10 8

5
4
0
Idea Airtel

Around ¾ respondent i.e. 21 out of 28 idea users agreed that they are satisfied by the billing
done by the network provider whereas only 42% respondents i.e. 5 out of 12 Airtel users
agreed that they are satisfied by the billing done by the network provider.

69
Q.11. Are all your family members using the same network?

Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
86 25
14 75

Idea

14

86 2

Airtel

25

1
75 2

About 25 % respondents i.e. 3 out 12 Airtel subscriebrs said that all members of their family
are using services of Airtel network whereas 86% respondnet i..e 24 out of 28 Idea
subscriebrs said that all members of their family are using services of Idea.

70
Q.12. Are you contended and satisfied with the network provider?

Idea Airtel
No of respondents No of respondents
25 4
3 8

30
3
25

20
no
15 25 yes

10 8

5
4
0
Idea Airtel

Only 1/3 respondents i.e. 33 % Airtel subscribers agreed that they are contended and
satisfied with the network whereas 86% respondents i..e. 25 out of 28 Idea users agreed that
they are contended and satisfied with the network.

71
 CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS
AND CONCLUSIONS

72
 CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
5.1 FINDINGS

 During the project we meet various people & trying to find their perception regarding
various mobile services in the Delhi. While studying we find that the main customer or
the users of mobile services are the self-employed persons who have their own business
& other major users are the college going students.

5.2 CONCLUSIONS

 There are total 55% persons which uses airtel.

 And 45% of the persons are using idea due to its good schemes.
 So, the conclusion is the majority of people are using airtel services because of its more
benefits than idea.

73
 CHAPTER 6
SUGGESTIONS
OR RECOMMENDATIONS

74
 CHAPTER 6
SUGGESTIONS OR RECOMMENDATIONS

During the project I found inconvenience faced by the customers, which can be removed by
taking necessary steps.

 There, I would like to suggest few point over which top management should think and
take corrective action to overcome those drawback due to which Mobile Service
providing companies & authorized dealer has gradually losing its market position so
that the company must take following measure to regain its market position.
 Company should encourage to solve the customer complaint customer satisfaction
should be the ultimate aim of the organization so customer complaints should be
removed.
 Promotion by local advertisement & on electronic media more as to print media as it
is the biggest media to reach common customer.
 Companies should also start promotional schemes for the customer.
 To attract the customer the firms should improve their services by introducing latest
technology in the market. & they should also try to increase the range of their signals
in the city.
 The companies should try to increase their capacity to solve the connectivity problem.
 The marketing personnel should give complete feedback with logical rejoining from
the market to increase service standards.
 For a particular order particular person should be made responsible not a group as a
whole this will increase the commitment of that. Person towards the work and would
make him feel more responsible towards an order.
 Marketing people should be given incentives for each order they bring to the
company. It could be a fix percentage.
 The local persons are appointed more in the field of marketing to attract the customer

75
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

TEXT BOOK

 Philip kotler (2004) Marketing Management

 C.R. Kothari (2004) Research methodology
 G.C. Berry (2004) Marketing research
 Stanton William (1994) Fundamentals of Marketing
 Saxena Rajana (2004) Marketing Management

WEB SITE

1. www.idea.com
2. www.airtel.com
3. www.google.com
4. www.marketresearch.com
5. www. yahoo.com

MAGAZINE
 My Mobile
 Business world
 Digital India
 Business India

76
 ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNAIRE

Q.1 which network are you using currently?

Idea Airtel
Q.2 Do you find the rates being offered by the network provider cheaper?
Yes No
Q.3 Does the network provides you uninterrupted service 24x7?
Yes No
Q.4 Does the network provides quicker grievance redressed through customer care?
Yes No
Q.5 Do you find the advertisement of the network appealing and convincing?
Yes No
Q.6 Have you been using the network before Mobile Number Portability (MNP)?
Yes No
Q.7. Do you want to switch to your old network or some other network?
Yes No
Q.8.Do you use the new schemes offered by the network provider (like message card,
internet services etc)?
Yes No
Q. 9 Do you find the network better and economical as compared to other networks?
Yes No
Q.10. Are you satisfied with the billing done by the network provider?
Yes No
Q.11. Are all your family members using the same network?
Yes No
Q.12. Are you contended and satisfied with the network provider?
Yes No

77