The Bharti Airtel stock would be in focus today on back of its board meet today. The board will consider the proposal for raising funds by issue of equity shares, bonds/debentures or other securities including through qualified institutions placement, rights issue, preferential issue subject to statutory approvals.

"A meeting of the board of directors of the company is scheduled on Thursday, February 28, 2019 to consider the recommendations of 'Special Committee of Directors for Fund Raising'" Airtel said in a regulatory filing.

The debt for the company currently stands at Rs 1.06 lakh crore.

The market expects the board to discuss rights issue to raise the additional capital, and with promoters holding about 67 percent stake, they could be putting in two-thirds of the money.

Moody’s recently downgraded the Group’s rating to junk status, which puts additional pressure on the group to bring down the debt.

The company is also looking at other means of bringing down the debt. The African debt has been reduced by $200 million post investment by Qatar Investment Authority. They are also looking at IPO for the Africa business along with perhaps monetising Infratel stake.

First Published:Feb 28, 2019 9:01 AM IST