MUMBAI, India (AP) Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecommunications company, said Wednesday the weak rupee contributed to a 29 percent slump in quarterly profit.
Net profit for the July to September quarter was 5.1 billion rupees ($83 million). The company absorbed currency losses of 3.4 billion rupees ($55 million).
However, solid revenue growth in rupee terms plus higher operating profit margins boosted the company's stock, which rose 6 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Bharti Airtel said its mobile Internet revenue doubled from a year earlier, driving overall revenue up 10 percent to 213 billion rupees ($3.5 billion).
Operating profit margins also improved to 32.0 percent in the quarter from 30.6 percent, driven by expansion of Indian mobile data business and an increase in subscribers in Africa.