Bharti Airtel on Monday indicated that it may come out with an overseas bond issue.

The company will meet global fixed income investors on or after February 23, after which the company will take a final decision on the issuance of foreign currency bonds, subject to market conditions.

It may be recalled that the Bharti Airtel board had earlier this month approved fundraising plans of up to Rs 7,500 crore through debt instruments such as debentures and bonds in one or more tranches.

“The company will meet global fixed income investors on or after February 23, 2021, following which and subject to market conditions, the company will take a final decision with regard to the issuance of foreign currency bonds/ notes and a deal may or may not follow,” Bharti Airtel said in a filing after market hours.

Accordingly, subject to such a final decision, an authorised special committee of directors may meet anytime on or after two working days to consider the issuance and its detailed terms and conditions, it added.

Ahead of the announcement, its shares ended at Rs 570.70 which was lower by 1.76 per cent against the last close.

In the upcoming spectrum auction that starts on March 1, radio waves valued at Rs 3.92 lakh crore will be put on the block.

The auction is for seven spectrum bands for mobile services - 700, 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300 and 2500MHz bands.

"We expect total bids of Rs 39400 crore ($ 5.3 billion) in the March spectrum auction, predominantly led by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. We believe Bharti is likely to try closing its gap versus Jio in the sub-GHz spectrum (good for indoor coverage), while maintaining its leadership versus Jio on overall spectrum footprint’’, analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note.