Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced that its subsidiary Airtel Africa will be included in the FTSE 100 from January 31. The index includes the top 100 companies by market capitalisation listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Airtel Africa was listed on the London Stock Exchange in June 2019. It now becomes the only entity promoted by an Indian company to join the FTSE 100.

The company had a market capitalisation of over $7.5 billion as per closing price on January 26, with an enterprise value of $10.7 billion, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

“This is a significant milestone for Airtel Africa, which becomes part of the FTSE 100 in just two and a half years of listing on the London Stock Exchange joining the most valuable companies. Airtel Africa is a strong player in the African continent, which has emerged as the next growth frontier globally,” Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal said.

Airtel entered Africa in 2010 and the business has demonstrated consistent growth in its customer base, revenues, profits, margins, and cash generation, as well as strengthening its balance sheet through reduced leverage. Airtel Africa has over 122 million customers across the 14 African markets in which it operates.

“Delighted that after long years and hard efforts of the team Airtel, the Africa operations have had a stellar turnaround. A lot of credit goes to the changed leadership under Raghu Mandava, an Airtel veteran who along with his team spent five years in reshaping the strategy in Africa,” Mittal said.

He said the company will continue to invest aggressively and execute a growth strategy under the new MD and CEO Segun Ogunsanya to deliver on the significant market potential afforded by Africa.

For the half-year ended September 30, 2021, Airtel Africa’s revenue grew 25.2 per cent to $2.27 billion with double-digit growth across all regions.