Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) - Company Profile

Bharat Petroleum – Company Profile

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is one of the largest state-owned oil and gas company in India, with Fortune Global 500 rank of 287 (2008). Its corporate office is located at Ballard Estate, Mumbai.  As the name suggests, its interests are in downstream petroleum sector. It is involved in the refining and retailing of petroleum products. Bharat Petroleum is considered to be a pioneer in Indian petroleum industry with various path-breaking initiatives such as Pure for Sure campaign, Petro card, Fleet card etc. BPCL's growth post-nationalisation (in 1976) has been phenomenal. One of the single digit Indian representatives in the Fortune 500 & Forbes 2000 listings, BPCL is often referred to as an “MNC in PSU garb”. It is considered a pioneer in marketing initiatives, and employs “Best in Class” practices.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
Type	State-owned enterprise Public
Industry	Oil and Gas
Founded	1976
Headquarters	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Key people	Radhakrishnan (Chairman & MD)
Products	Oil Petroleum Natural gas Petrochemical Fuel Lubricant
Revenue	123,900.65 crore (US$ 28.13 billion) (2010)
Net income	1,719.98 crore (US$ 390.44 million) (2010)
Total assets	$13.762 billion (2010)
Total equity	$3.150 billion (2010)
Employees	14,729 (2007)
Website	BharatPetroleum.com

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), a public sector enterprise, is one of the only three petroleum companies in India that have integrated facilities for refining and marketing. BPCL was formed by the Government of India in 1977, as a part of nationalisation of oil companies. BPCL took over refining operations of Burmah Shell Refining Limited and marketing /distribution operations of Burmah Shell Oil and Storage Distribution Company. BPCL is one of India’s three dominant refining and marketing companies. It has a refining capacity of 6mtpa and product sales of 17.5mt, implying a market share of 20.55%, second largest in India.

The company has been gaining market share consistently over the last few years from rival HPCL. BPCL introduced LPG as a cooking fuel to the Indian home. Bharat Petroleum, now is India’s second largest oil company in terms of market share, and has a turnover exceeding Rs. 256billion. Today the company produces a diverse range of products, from Petrochemicals and Solvents to aircraft fuel and speciality lubricants and markets them through 4400 Petrol Stations, 960 Kerosene dealers and 1180 LPG distributors, besides supplying fuel directly to hundreds of industries, and several international and domestic airlines. Bharat Oman Refineries, incorporated as a joint venture between the Oman Oil Company and BPCL. This joint venture is setting up a refinery scheduled to be completed by Dec.’99. In 1995-96, approval has been received by BPCL for putting up new LPG bottling plants at Goa, Beghusarai, Meerut, Dewas, Jhansi, Ferozabad, Burdwan, Raiganj, Gwalior, Bina, Buldhana, Tanjore and Vellore. BPCL has joint venture partnership with Numaligarh Refineries Ltd. (NRL), Shell International Petroleum Company, Shell Overseas Investments, The Netherlands, and Gujarat Gas Company. Bharat Petroleum is the only Petroleum Marketing Company from India that’s listed in the Forbes International 800 Rankings.

History

The 1860s saw vast industrial development. A lot of petroleum refineries came up. An important player in the South Asian market then was the Burmah Oil Company Ltd. Though incorporated in Scotland in 1886, the company grew out of the enterprises of the Rangoon Oil Company, which had been formed in 1871 to refine crude oil produced from primitive hand dug wells in Upper Burma.

The search for oil in India began in 1886, when Mr. Goodenough of McKillop Stewart Companydrilled a well near Jaypore in upper Assam and struck oil. In 1889, the Assam Railway and Trading Company (ARTC) struck oil at Digboi marking the beginning of oil production in India.

While discoveries were made and industries expanded, John D Rockefeller together with his business associates acquired control of numerous refineries and pipelines to later form the giant Standard Oil Trust. The largest rivals of Standard Oil - Royal Dutch, Shell, Rothschilds - came together to form a single organisation: Asiatic Petroleum Company to market petroleum products in South Asia.

In 1928, Asiatic Petroleum (India) joined hands with Burmah Oil Company - an active producer, refiner and distributor of petroleum products, particularly in Indian and Burmese markets. This alliance led to the formation of Burmah-Shell Oil Storage and Distributing Company of India Limited. A pioneer in more ways than one, Burmah Shell began its operations with import and marketing of Kerosene. This was imported in bulk and transported in 4 gallon and 1 gallon tins through rail, road and country craft all over India. With motor cars, came canned Petrol, followed by service stations. In the 1930s, retail sales points were built with driveways set back from the road; service stations began to appear and became accepted as a part of road development. After the war Burmah Shell established efficient and up-to-date service and filling stations to give the customers the highest possible standard of service facilities.

From Burmah Shell to Bharat Petroleum

On 24 January 1976, the Burmah Shell Group of Companies was taken over by the Government of India to form Bharat Refineries Limited. On 1 August 1977, it was renamed Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. It was also the first refinery to process newly found indigenous crude Bombay High, in the country. Today Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited has got three refineries at Mumbai, Kochi and Numaligarh. They are also on the verge of commissioning another refinery at Bina in Madhya Pradesh in 2010.

Products

Bharat Petroleum produces a diverse range of products, from petrochemicals and solvents to aircraft fuel and speciality lubricants and markets them through its wide network of Petrol Stations, Kerosene Dealers, LPG Distributors, Lube Shoppes, besides supplying fuel directly to hundreds of industries, and several international and domestic airlines.

Refineries

BPCL has refineries at Mumbai and Kochi (Kochi Refineries) with a capacity of 12 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) and 9.5 MMTPA respectively for refining crude oil. BPCL's subsidiary at Numaligarh has a capacity of 3 MMT. One more refinery i.e. Bina Refinery is coming up and is expected to get commissioned in the current financial year. It would operate at 6 MMTPA for the first year.

Brand ambassador

Mahendra Singh Dhoni signed on as the Brand Ambassador for BPCL in 2006. Narain Karthikeyan is one other Brand Ambassador for BPCL.

International rankings

1. BPCL is a Fortune Global 500 company as per the ranking of 2008. It was ranked at position 287. It was ranked at position 325 as per the ranking of 2007.
2. BPCL was featured on the Forbes Global 2000 list for 2008 at position 967
3. BPCL is seventh most valued brand in India according to in an annual survey conducted by Brand Finance and The Economic Times in 2010.

Technological Edge

Bharat Petroleum has always been on the forefront of harnessing technology initiatives for BPCL has been on forefront in harnessing technology. maximising efficiency and achieving greater customer satisfaction.

Bharat Petroleum is the first Public Sector Oil Company to implement Enterprisewide Resource Planning (ERP) solutions - SAP. The implementation project known as ENTRANS (Enterprisewide Transformation) has been awarded the 'SAP Star Implementation Award', with Bharat Petroleum having the distinction of executing the largest and the most ambitious SAP project in India. The challenge of SAP implementation was to ensure that all the integrated elements (of the complex multi-modular integrated solutions that impact the entire workflow of the organisation) work seamlessly across the length and breadth of the country, including the remote locations. Providing online connectivity in these remote locations, given the full-fledged IT network infrastructure, was in itself a daunting task.

Bharat Petroleum is reaping the benefits of the integrated system in many areas of its operations. The early gains of implementation are in the areas of tracking customer-receivables, monitoring credit-management, inventory management, besides easing the operations in a large number of areas.

Furthermore, Bharat Petroleum has also set up one of the biggest 'Centres of Excellence' in Asia to provide online support to the end users and also work towards continuous improvement in business processes and handle product upgrades and new generation products.

With SAP as the IT backbone, Bharat Petroleum plans to take advantage of the Internet based capabilities along the entire value chain with a Customer Relationship Management solution. A large data warehouse project has also been implemented, which facilitates access to real-time accurate information on key performance indicators at all Bharat Petroleum locations. This enables the management to take strategic and business decisions, thus ensuring value-added services, better customer satisfaction and enhanced shareholder value.

People Above Oil

Over the years, Bharat Petroleum continues to meet the challenges of the rapidly changing environment, leading to changes in the marketing of products and services. In all these changes, only one factor has remained constant and has been the source of Bharat Petroleum's strength and inspiration for any future innovations - Bharat Petroleum's People. The feeling of ownership has facilitated all employees to understand the complexity of the market and needs of the customers, and respond to these needs with innovative initiatives and offerings.

For Bharat Petroleum, commitment of its employees is a critical resource. Fully realising that only a happy employee will put his best foot forward with the customers, Bharat Petroleum has taken many steps to make the organisation a great place to work. In a survey conducted by Hewitt Associates for the January 2001 issue of Business Today magazine to identify the best employers, Bharat Petroleum was ranked among the top ten employers in India. The objective of the study was to find out which companies had really charged the emotional and intellectual energy of their employees. The other companies who were selected were Infosys, Hewlett-Packard, P and G, ICICI, Hughes, LG, HLL, Compaq and Asian Paints.

Opportunities

BPCL offers rewarding career to Engineers, MBA’s, PhD’s and CA’s in various functions like Refining, Marketing, R&D, Engineering & Projects, Finance, HR, Corporate Affairs, etc. The recruitment at entry level (as Officer Trainees /Probationary Officers) is normally undertaken through campus interviews at reputed Engineering colleges, RECs, Premier Management Institutes Sometimes BPCL recruit through Press Advertisements also.

The trainees are given extensive on the job training for one year during which they are exposed to the various facets of the Organization. Depending upon the business requirement, recruitment in a few cases is made in mid-management level.

Contact

The recruitment at entry level (as Officer Trainees /Probationary Officers) is normally undertaken through campus interviews.

Website: http://www.bharatpetroleum.com/careers.html

Tata Steel – Company Profile

Tata Steel is the world's sixth largest steel manufacturer. It operates in more than 20 countries and has a commercial presence in over 50.

The company was established in Jamshedpur, India, in 1907. In the past few years, Tata Steel has invested in Corus (UK, renamed Tata Steel Europe), Millennium Steel (renamed Tata Steel Thailand) and NatSteel Holdings (Singapore). With these, the company has created a manufacturing and marketing network in Europe, South East Asia and the Pacific-rim countries. It has the capacity to produce over 30 million tonnes of crude steel every year. 

Areas of business
The company produces crude steel and basic steel products, and makes steel for building and construction applications through Tata BlueScope Steel, its joint venture with Australia's BlueScope Steel.

Tata Steel has also set up joint ventures for the development of limestone mines in Thailand, the procurement of low-ash coal from Australia and coking coal from Mozambique, and the setting up of a deep-sea port in Orissa in India. The company is exploring opportunities in the titanium dioxide business in Tamil Nadu, India, and will soon be producing high carbon ferrochrome from its plant in South Africa.

Joint ventures, subsidiaries, associates

• Tata Steel Europe: Europe’s second largest steel maker with major operations in the UK and continental Europe, Tata Steel Europe produces long and strip products for the construction, automotive, packaging, engineering and other markets worldwide.   (www.corusgroup.com)
• NatSteel Holdings: A leading supplier of premium steel products for the construction industry, NatSteel has operations in seven countries in Asia. (www.natsteel.com.sg)
• Tata Steel Thailand: A major steel producer in Thailand, the company produces steel for the construction industry.
• Tinplate Company of India: Industry leader in India in the manufacture of tinning line products, including electrolytic tinplate, tin-free steel and cold-rolled products. (www.tatatinplate.com/)
• Tayo Rolls: India’s leading roll manufacturer and supplier, the company produces rolls for integrated steel plants, power plants, the paper, textile and food processing sectors, and the government mint. (www.tayo.co.in/)
• Tata Ryerson: Offers hot- and cold-rolled flat steel products in customised sizes and quantities.
• Tata Refractories: Produces high-alumina, basic, dolomite, silica and monolithic refractories and offers design, procurement and re-lining services. (www.tataref.com)
• Tata Sponge Iron: Produces sponge iron lumps and fines. (www.tatasponge.com/)
• Tata Metaliks: Manufactures and sells foundry-grade pig iron. (www.tatametaliks.com)
• Tata Pigments: Produces oxides of iron, dry cement paint, exterior emulsion paint and distemper. Its products are used in paints, emulsions, cement floors and plastics.
• Jamshedpur Injection Powder: Manufactures carbide de-sulphurising compounds used for the production of low-sulphur, high-quality steel. (www.jamipol.com)
• TM International Logistics: Provides material handling and port operation services at the Haldia and Paradip ports in India; also has freight-forwarding and chartering services. (www.tmilltd.com)
• mjunction services: A 50:50 joint venture involving Steel Authority of India and Tata Steel, it is India's largest e-commerce company and the world's largest e-marketplace for steel. (www.mjunction.in)
• TRF: In the business of design, manufacture, supply, installation and commissioning of engineered-to-order equipment and systems in the areas of bulk material handling, processing, reclaiming and blending. (www.trfltd.com)
• Jamshedpur Utility and Service Company: Re-engineered out of Tata Steel's town services, JUSCO provides municipal and civic services for townships. (www.juscoltd.com)
• Indian Steel and Wire Products: Recently acquired by Tata Steel, ISWP has a wire unit and a steel roll manufacturing unit.
• Tata BlueScope Steel: A joint venture with BlueScope Steel, Australia, the company offers a comprehensive range of branded steel products for building and construction applications. (www.tatabluescopesteel.com)
• Dhamra Port Company: A joint venture between Larsen & Toubro and Tata Steel to build a deep-draft (18 metres) all-weather port in Orissa on the east coast of India.
  (www.dhamraport.com)
• Hooghly Met Coke & Power Company: A joint venture with the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, producing met coke and electric power.
  (www.hooghlymetcoke.com)
• Lanka Special Steel: A Sri Lankan unit that manufactures galvanised wires.
• Sila Eastern Company: Established to develop limestone mines in Thailand, mainly for captive use.
• Tata Steel KZN: Setting up a high carbon ferrochrome plant in South Africa with an annual production capacity of 135,000 tonnes.
• Tata NYK: A 50:50 joint venture with Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) to set up a shipping company to handle dry-bulk and break-bulk cargo.

Location
Tata Steel is headquartered at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, India.

Company History:

Tata Iron & Steel Company Ltd. (TISCO) is the iron and steel production company associated with the Tata group of some 80 different industrial and other business enterprises in India, founded by members of the Tata family. TISCO operates as India's largest integrated steel works in the private sector with a market share of nearly 13 percent and is the second largest steel company in the entire industry. Its products and services include hot and cold rolled coils and sheets, tubes, construction bars, forging quality steel, rods, structurals, strips and bearings, steel plant and material handling equipment, ferro alloys and other minerals, software for process controls, and cargo handling services. Through its subsidiaries, TISCO also offers tinplate, wires, rolls, refractories, and project management services.

Tata's Early Beginnings in the 1800s

The story of TISCO is the story of one family or, more accurately, one man whose vision and determination to give India a modern industrial economy helped provide a platform for the country's independence half a century after his death. At the same time, he helped create what was by 1970 India's biggest nonpublic enterprise. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata was born into a well-to-do family of Bombay Parsees in 1839. The Parsees, a religious minority group, had carved a niche for themselves in business, in this case in the economy of Victorian India, which was dominated by British interests and was being developed as a client imperial economy. Tata's father was a successful merchant with interests in the cotton trade to Britain. Tata joined the family business after an education at Elphinstone College in Bombay and was sent to Lancashire, England, in 1864 to represent the firm there. This was to be the first of many travels in Europe, North America, and the Far and Middle East during which he formulated his ideas on the best strategy to realize his own ambitions for success in business and to contribute to the economic development of India. Tata's own background was in cotton production. He believed that mills could function successfully in India in close proximity to the cotton-producing areas in the west of the country, thereby putting them in a strong position to undercut their Lancashire competitors. He obtained air conditioning equipment from suppliers in the United States and the latest cotton spinning machinery installed to provide the optimum climatic conditions for spinning. His early ventures showed promise and in 1874 he founded his first company, the Central India Spinning, Weaving and Manufacturing Company. Three years later, on the same day that Queen Victoria was declared empress of India, he opened the Empress mill in Nagpur. As Tata was taking his first steps toward establishing a viable cotton spinning business, Indian nationalism also was beginning to find a focus for its aspirations through the Indian National Congress. Tata was present at its inaugural meeting and his devotion to the cause of an independent India was undoubtedly a motivating factor in his own drive for success in business. Cotton was only a start. From his travels in other industrialized nations he had come to identify three essential elements for a modern industrial economy: steel production, hydroelectric power, and technical education. Although he did not live to see any of his schemes in these areas come to fruition, he laid the foundations on which his sons, and then later generations of his family, were able to build to realize his ambitions.

Tata Steel was established by Indian Parsi businessman Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata in 1907 (he died in 1904, before the project was completed). Tata Steel introduced an 8-hour work day as early as in 1912 when only a 12-hour work day was the legal requirement in Britain. It introduced leave-with-pay in 1920, a practice that became legally binding upon employers in India only in 1945. Similarly, Tata Steel started a Provident Fund for its employees as early as in 1920, which became a law for all employers under the Provident Fund Act only in 1952. Tata Steel's furnaces have never been disrupted on account of a labour strike and this is an enviable record.

Capacity Expansion

Tata Steel has set an ambitious target to achieve a capacity of 100 million tonne by 2015. Managing Director B. Muthuraman stated that of the 100 million tonne, Tata Steel is planning a 50-50 balance between greenfield facilities and acquisitions.

• Overseas acquisitions have already added up to 21.4 million tonne, which includes Corus production at 18.2 million tonne, Natsteel production at two million tonne and Millennium Steel production at 1.2 million tonne. Tata is looking to add another 29 million tonnes through the acquisition route.

• Tata Steel has lined up a series of greenfield projects in India and outside which includes

1. 6 million tonne plant in Orissa (India)
2. 12 million tonne in Jharkhand (India)
3. 5 million tonne in Chhattisgarh (India)
4. 3-million tonne plant in Iran
5. 2.4-million tonne plant in Bangladesh
6. 5 million tonne capacity expansion at Jamshedpur (India)
7. 4.5 million tonne plant in Vietnam (feasibility studies underway)

Acquisitions

Corus

• On 20 October 2006, Tata Steel announced that it had agreed to pick up a 100% stake in the Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus at 455 pence per share in an all cash deal, cumulatively valued at GBP 4.3 billion.

• On 19 November 2006, the Brazilian steel company Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) launched a counter offer for Corus at 475 pence per share, valuing it at £4.5billion.

• On 11 December 2006, Tata preemptively upped the offer to 500 pence, which was within hours trumped by CSN's offer of 515 pence per share, valuing the deal at £4.9 billion. The Corus board promptly recommended both the revised offers to its shareholders.

• On 31 January 2007 Tata Steel won their bid for Corus after offering 608 pence per share, valuing Corus at £6.7 billion; as a result and pending acceptance and completion of the takeover, the joining of the two will create the fifth largest steel company in the world.

 Other acquisitions

• In August 2004, Tata Steel entered into definitive agreements with Singapore based NatSteel Ltd to acquire its steel business for Singapore $486.4 million (approximately Rs 1,313 crore) in an all cash transaction.

• In 2005, Tata Steel acquired 40% Stake in Millennium Steel based in Thailand for $130 million (approx. Rs 600 crore).

• In 2007 Tata Steel through its wholly owned Singapore subsidiary, NatSteel Asia Pte Ltd acquired controlling stake in two rolling mills: SSE Steel Ltd, Vinausteel Ltd located in Vietnam.

Controversies

The company is facing increasing criticism that the drive for growth and profits is completely overshadowing its once famed philanthropy, and causing lasting social and environmental damage at various locations. In response, Tata cites its programs for environment and resource conservation, including a reduction in greenhouse erosion, raw materials and water consumption. The company has increased waste re-use and re-cycling, and reclaims land at its captive mines and collieries through forestation. Tata Steel's chief, environment and occupational health, says, "Our capital investment in pollution-abatement solutions was in the vicinity of Rs 400 crore in 2003-04.".

 Dhamra Port

The Dhamra Port, a Joint Venture between Larsen & Toubro and Tata Steel, has come in for criticism from groups such as Greenpeace, Wildlife Protection Society of India and the Orissa Traditional Fishworkers' Union. The port is being built within five kilometres of the Bhitarkanika Sanctuary, a Ramsar wetland of international importance, home to an impressive diversity of mangrove species, saltwater crocodiles and an array of avian species. The port will also be approximately 15 km. from the turtle nesting beaches of the Gahirmatha Sanctuary, and turtles are also found immediately adjoining the port site. Aside from potential impacts on nesting and feeding grounds of the turtles, the mudflats of the port site itself are breeding grounds for horseshoe crabs as well as rare species of reptiles and amphibians. One such species, the amphibian Fejervarya cancrivora, is the first record for the Indian mainland.

Bharti Airtel Limited - Company Profile

Bharti Airtel Limited  - Company Profile

Type                                      Public

Industry                               Telecommunications

Founded                             7 July 1995 (1995-07-07)

Founder(s)                         Sunil Bharti Mittal

Headquarters                    New Delhi, India

Area served                       South Asian & African countries and the Channel Islands

Key people                        Sunil Mittal, (Chairman) and (MD) , Sanjay Kapoor, (CEO)

Products                              Wireless, Telephone, Internet, Satellite television

Revenue                             US$ 7.254 billion (2009)

Operating income           US$ 2.043 billion (2009)

Net income                        US$ 1.662 billion (2009)

Total assets                        US$ 11.853 billion (2009)

Employees                         25,543 (2009)

Parent                                  Bharti Enterprises(63.56%), SingTel(32.04%), Vodafone(4.4%)

Introduction:

Sunil Bharti Mittal founded the Bharti Group. In 1983, Sunil Mittal entered into an agreement with Germany's Siemens to manufacture the company's push-button telephone models for the Indian market. In 1986, Sunil Bharti 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. This first-mover advantage allowed Sunil Mittal to expand his manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the telecommunications market. By the early 1990s, Sunil Mittal had also launched the country's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones. In 1992, Sunil Mittal won a bid to build a cellular phone network in Delhi. In 1995, Sunil 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 Mumbai 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. In 2009, Airtel launched its first international mobile network in Sri Lanka. In 2010, Airtel began operating in Bangladesh and 16 African countries. Today, Airtel is the largest cellular service provider in India and fifth largest in the world.

Worldwide Presence

Airtel is the 5th largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscriber base and has a commercial presence in 19 countries and the Channel Islands.
Its area of operations include:

• 3 countries in the Indian Subcontinent: Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka

• 16 countries in Africa: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

• Channel Islands: Jersey and Guernsey

Airtel owns 70 % of Warid Telecom in Bangladesh through a joint venture. Bharti Airtel Limited will take management control of the company and its board, and will relaunch the company's services under its own Airtel brand. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission approved the deal on January 4, 2010. Airtel operates on the British Crown Dependency islands of Jersey and Guernsey, under the brand name Airtel-Vodafone, through an agreement with Vodafone.

Airtel operates in the following countries. Airtel is interimly known as Zain in the African operations it acquired in June 2010. Those acquisitions will rebrand as Airtel on November 23, 2010.

Subscriber Base

Bharti had 195 million subscribers across 19 countries as of September 30, 2010.

Subscriber base in India

The Airtel subscriber base according to Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) as of August 2010 was:

Metros

• Chennai - 2,877,029
• Delhi - 6,950,079
• Mumbai - 3,201,916
• Kolkata - 2,947,042

"A" Circle

• Andhra Pradesh - 14,240,429
• Gujarat - 5,980,024
• Karnataka - 13,434,418
• Maharashtra - 7,209,072
• Tamil Nadu - 8,744,937

"B" Circle

• Haryana - 1,580,398
• Kerala - 3,332,095
• Madhya Pradesh - 7,496,236
• Punjab - 5,171,278
• Rajasthan - 11,004,105
• Uttar Pradesh (East) - 8,534,334
• Uttar Pradesh (West) - 4,923,409
• West Bengal - 6,644,688

"C" Circle

• Assam - 2,683,243
• Bihar - 12,600,521
• Himachal Pradesh - 1,452,709
• Jammu and Kashmir - 1,751,239
• North Eastern States - 1,612,005
• Orissa - 4,840,243

Airtel is the market leader in India with about 31.18% market share of 481 million GSM mobile connections as of August 2010.

Airtel is one of world’s leading providers of telecommunication services with presence in all the 22 licensed jurisdictions (also known as Telecom Circles) in India, and operations in Srilanka, Bangladesh and in Africa. Airtel served an aggregate of 194.8 million customers as of September 30, 2010; of whom 187.7 million subscribe to our GSM services and 3.2 million use our Telemedia Services either for voice and/or broadband access delivered through DSL. We are the largest wireless service provider in India, based on the number of customers as of September 30, 2010. Airtel offers an integrated suite of telecom solutions to our enterprise customers, in addition to providing long distance connectivity both nationally and internationally. We also offer DTH and IPTV Services. All these services are rendered under a unified brand “Airtel”.

The company also deploys, owns and manages passive infrastructure pertaining to telecom operations under its subsidiary Bharti Infratel Limited. Bharti Infratel owns 42% of Indus Towers Limited. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers are the two top providers of passive infrastructure services in India.

Partners

Network Equipment

Mobile Services

Nokia Siemens, Ericsson, Huawei

Telemedia & Long Distance Services

Nokia Siemens, Juniper, Cisco, Alcatel Lucent, ECI, Tellabs

Information Technology

IBM

Call Centre Operations

IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT, Teleperformance,
Mphasis, Firstsource & Aegis

Equity Partner {Strategic}

Singtel

Bharti Airtel, usually referred to simply as "airtel", is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 19 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. It operates a GSM network in all countries, providing 2G or 3G services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world with over 190 million subscribers as of September 30, 2010. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with over 143 million subscribers as of September 30, 2010. Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom. It has a 29.00% market share of the GSM mobile service in India.

Airtel also offers fixed line services and broadband services. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Airtel is the first Indian telecom service provider to achieve this Cisco Gold Certification. To earn Gold Certification, Bharti Airtel had to meet rigorous standards for networking competency, service, support and customer satisfaction set forth by Cisco. The company also provides land-line telephone services and broadband Internet access (DSL) in over 96 cities in India. It also acts as a carrier for national and international long distance communication services. The company has a submarine cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.

It is known for being the first mobile phone company in the world to outsource everything except marketing and sales and finance. Its network (base stations, microwave links, etc.) is maintained by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Network and Huawei., business support by IBM and transmission towers by another company (Bharti Infratel Ltd. in India). Ericsson agreed for the first time, to be paid by the minute for installation and maintenance of their equipment rather than being paid up front. This enabled the company to provide pan-India phone call rates of Rs. 1/minute (U$0.02/minute). Call rates have come down much further. During the last financial year [2009-10], Bharti has roped in a strategic partner Alcatel-Lucent to manage the network infrastructure for the Telemedia Business.

The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia, Enterprise and Digital TV. The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 89 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.

In January 2010, company announced that Manoj Kohli, Joint Managing Director and current Chief Executive Officer of Indian and South Asian operations, will become the Chief Executive Officer of the International Business Group from 1 April 2010. He will be overseeing Bharti's overseas business. Current Dy. CEO, Sanjay Kapoor, will replace Manoj Kohli and will be the CEO, effective from 1 April 2010.