Akhil Gupta

Akhil is the Vice Chairman of Bharti Group and Executive Chairman of Bharti Infratel Limited. He has been closely associated with a range of strategic, financial, mergers and acquisitions and business performance issues of the group. 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 & NSN and outsourcing of Call Centres Management to leading International BPOs. He 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 and is a unique example of collaborating at the backend while competing at the front end. With innovative thought leadership, he has helped Bharti Airtel in becoming the lowest cost producer of minutes worldwide while ensuring that it provides good margin despite the lowest tariffs in the world.

In June 2010, he was instrumental in executing the acquisition of Zain Group’s mobile operations in 15 countries across Africa for an enterprise valuation of USD10.7 billion which is the second largest outbound deal by an Indian company.

He has played a pivotal role in Bharti’s phenomenal growth right since inception. He has been closely involved from the very beginning in the growth of Bharti in the telecommunication services sector – both organically and 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, Qatar Foundation Endowment, AIF and Sequoia among many other Private Equity funds. He has also been instrumental in raising several billion dollars by way of project finance for the Group over the years from global banks & bond markets.
He has also spearheaded the successful public listings of both Bharti Airtel (2002) and Bharti Infratel (2012). Post the listings, he has led the investor interactions and has been instrumental in introducing Global benchmarks like full Quarterly audits and transparent Quarterly reports to provide all relevant information to investors & stakeholders. Consequently, Bharti Airtel has been constantly awarded highest ratings for Corporate Governance and is acknowledged globally for highest standards of ethics.

He is currently the Chairman of TAIPA (Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association) and President of TSSC (Telecom Sector Skill Council). He represents the Indian Telecom Industry and Bharti regularly at various forums and important seminars in India and abroad.

He is a Chartered Accountant by qualification with over 30 years of professional experience. He has also done an “Advanced Management Program” at the Harvard Business School in the year 2002.

He was recently awarded the ‘CEO of the Year’ award at the National Telecom Awards 2012. He was also honoured for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Telecom Sector’ by industry’s leading telecom magazine – tele.net.
In 2010, he was awarded the Asia Corporate Dealmaker Award at the Asia – Pacific M&A ATLAS Awards. The Award recognizes his leadership in executing Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of Zain Group’s mobile operations in 15 countries across Africa for an enterprise valuation of USD10.7 billion. He has also been inducted to the CFO India – ‘Hall of Fame’ in recognition of his contribution to the world of finance.

In 2009, he was conferred the “CA Business Achiever Award”. The Award instituted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) acknowledges the Chartered Accountants in the industry who have demonstrated excellence in the way they conduct their profession are exemplary role models in the industry and have created value to their company’s stakeholders on a sustainable basis.

In 2006, he won three awards at the first ‘CNBC TV18 CFO Awards for India’ hosted by Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone in UAE. The awards panel voted him as ‘Best CFO of the Year’ and ‘Best Performing CFO in the Telecommunications Sector’. In addition, he won the ‘Best CFO of the Year – People’s Choice Award’.