Brands
Hexa-gains stay steady as Bharti Hexacom keeps signals strong in Q3
MUMBAI: Sometimes, consistency is the real flex. Bharti Hexacom Limited delivered a steady performance in the December quarter, holding its line on revenues and profitability as India’s telecom battlefield remained intensely competitive. For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, the company reported revenue from operations of Rs 2,359.8 crore, up marginally from Rs 2,317.3 crore in the September quarter and higher than Rs 2,250.7 crore a year earlier. Including other income of Rs 37.5 crore, total income stood at Rs 2,397.3 crore.
Costs remained tightly managed. Total expenses came in at Rs 1,105.4 crore, broadly flat sequentially, despite elevated network operating expenses of Rs 521.6 crore and spectrum-related charges of Rs 217.3 crore. Lower access charges of Rs 110.0 crore, compared with Rs 230.4 crore a year ago, provided some breathing room.
As a result, profit before tax for the quarter rose to Rs 569.0 crore, compared with Rs 379.3 crore in the year-ago period. After a tax outgo of Rs 95.3 crore, profit after tax stood at Rs 473.7 crore, marking a sharp improvement from Rs 260.9 crore in Q3 FY25.
For the nine months ended December 2025, Bharti Hexacom posted revenue from operations of Rs 6,940.1 crore, up from Rs 6,258.9 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the nine-month period rose to Rs 1,286.5 crore, compared with Rs 1,025.2 crore a year earlier, reflecting operating leverage and disciplined cost control.
Mobile services continued to anchor performance, contributing Rs 2,271.8 crore to quarterly revenue, while homes, office and other services added Rs 97.2 crore, underscoring gradual diversification beyond core mobility.
Earnings per share for the December quarter improved to Rs 9.47, up from Rs 5.22 a year ago, while nine-month EPS stood at Rs 25.73.
With steady revenue growth, controlled costs and resilient margins, Bharti Hexacom’s December-quarter numbers suggest a business focused less on flashy surges and more on keeping the network humming and the balance sheet calm in a noisy telecom market.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
