Bharti Airtel on Monday announced the appointment of Shashwat Sharma as the new managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company effective January 1, 2026. Sharma, who is currently the chief operation officer (COO), will replace Gopal Vittal, who is being appointed as the executive vice chairman of Bharti Airtel.
“As the CEO designate, Shashwat will be responsible for the entire end-to-end consumer business. Gopal will be responsible for mentoring and grooming Shashwat to take over as MD & CEO of Bharti Airtel,” the company said in an exchange filing.
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Currently, as part of a structured succession process,Vittal, in addition to being the managing director, is also being appointed as vice chairman of Bharti Airtel. In this role, while continuing to lead the India business, he will take on broader telecom responsibilities across the group. Vittal will be appointed to the Board of Airtel Africa Plc as the Bharti nominee director to provide strategic guidance. In addition, he will be responsible for driving group synergies in select areas such as network strategy, digital & technology, procurement and talent. On January 1, 2026, Vittal will move into the role of executive vice chairman of Bharti Airtel.
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Vittal has served Bharti Airtel as MD & CEO for the last twelve years. In this period, Airtel has built a winning portfolio of businesses across mobile, B2B (business to business), home broadband, direct to home (DTH), and digital services.
In mobile, Airtel has seen its revenue market share grow from 30% to 40%, with Vittal leading the company. Infact, Airtel also recently witnessed its market capitalisation of over $100 billion.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, said, “India’s foremost corporate entity, has had a distinguished record of well thought out structured succession planning. I am extremely pleased with the succession and transition plan of leadership at Airtel and there could not have been a better time for Airtel to unveil the new arrangement where change and continuity will go hand in hand”.
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