Akhil Gupta

General Management, Strategy & Finance

  • Mr. Akhil Gupta has played a pivotal role in Bharti’s phenomenal growth in Telecom Services since its inception, both organically & by way of various acquisitions
  • He has led the formation of various partnerships for Bharti with leading international operators like British Telecom, Telecom Italia, Singapore Telecom and Vodafone in addition to induction of leading financial investors like Warburg Pincus, Temasek, KKR and Qatar Foundation Endowment
  • He has been instrumental in raising several billion dollars by way of project finance for the Bharti Group over the years from global banks & bond markets
  • He has conceptualized and implemented the transformational initiatives that include the outsourcing deals undertaken by the group in the areas of Information Technology (IT) with IBM, Network Management with Ericsson & Nokia and has also been responsible for the separation of passive mobile infrastructure and forming Indus Towers – a Joint Venture with Vodafone and Idea, which has become the largest tower company in the world
  • With innovative thought leadership, he has helped Bharti Airtel in becoming the lowest cost producer of minutes worldwide; at the same time, ensuring that it provides good margins despite the lowest tariffs in the world
  • He was instrumental in acquisition of Zain Group’s mobile operations in 15 countries across Africa for an enterprise valuation of over USD 10 billion, which is the second largest outbound deal by an Indian company
  • Spearheaded the successful public listings of both Bharti Airtel (2002) and Bharti Infratel (2012) and has been instrumental in introducing global benchmarks like full quarterly audits and transparent quarterly reports to provide all relevant information to investors & stakeholders
  • He is member of the Advisory Committee on Service Providers of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, member of Sub Committee on Insolvency Law Committee, Govt of India and a member of the CII Task Force on Insolvency and Bankruptcy 2020-21
  • He is the recipient of numerous awards which include “EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2017” as an Entrepreneur CEO, CA Lifetime Achievement Award by ICAI, Lifetime Achievement Award by Amity University, “CEO of the Year” award at National Telecom Awards, “CA Business Achiever” award, “Asia Corporate Dealmaker” award at the Asia Pacific M&A Atlas Awards, “Best CFO” awards in multiple categories at CNBC – TV18 and induction to “Hall of Fame“ by CFO India
  • Mr. Gupta is also a prolific author. His recent book, ‘Some Sizes Fit All’, published by Penguin Random House India, has received critical acclaim from industry & financial services stalwarts across the globe. His views, opinions and articles are also frequently sought and published in leading financial newspapers
  • He is a Chartered Accountant by qualification with over 30 years of professional experience and has done an “Advanced Management Program” at the Harvard Business School in 2002
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