The commerce ministry has put Bharti Airtel in the denied entry list for the non-fulfilment of export obligation under an export promotion scheme, sources said.

The move, however, is unlikely to impact the network expansion and 5G plans of the telecom company.

The Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), which is under the ministry, has put the company under this list which is commonly known as a blacklist for non-fulfilment of export obligations in respect of certain EPCG authorisation issued to them, they said.

Following the move, the company will not be able to avail themselves of any export benefit or licence from the DGFT.

Also, when a company is listed on the ‘Denied Entities List’, it leads to the cancellation of its import licence.

However, company sources said Airtel had not taken any such licence since April 2018 as there is no operational requirement.

In fact, the company has already applied for the closure of all past licences that were due and is awaiting approval from the authorities.

The stock of the company closed 4.55 per cent down at Rs 490.90 on the BSE.

Industry sources said the move would not have any impact on the telecom firm’s expansion plans and bidding for spectrum, including 5G.

They said the 5G gear are provided by vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei. The company has service agreement with all its partners for network.

Moreover, Ericsson and others have manufacturing units in the country.