Bharti Airtel rings loud on D-St, briefly tops HDFC Bank in m-cap

By

Kairavi Lukka

, ET BureauLast Updated: May 19, 2026, 05:44:00 AM IST

Synopsis

Bharti Airtel briefly surpassed HDFC Bank to become India's second-most valuable company on Monday, with its market capitalization reaching ₹11.9 lakh crore. However, HDFC Bank's shares rebounded, pushing it back to the second spot by market close. This shift reflects the underperformance of traditional heavyweights like IT and banks.

Mumbai: Bharti Airtel briefly became India's second-most valuable company during Monday's trading, after overtaking private lender HDFC Bank.

The telecom operator's market capitalisation hit a high of ₹11.9 lakh crore earlier in the day, surpassing the bank's valuation at that point. But a rebound in HDFC Bank shares and a decline in Bharti brought the lender back to the second spot.

At Monday's close, Bharti Airtel's market value stood at ₹11.81 lakh crore against HDFC Bank's at ₹11.83 lakh crore. At ₹18.06 lakh crore, Reliance Industries retained the top spot in the market cap table.

Agencies

later a rebound in Bank shares and Telco’s fall restores status quo

Bharti gained as much as 2.6% before ending 1.8% higher at ₹1,938.1. Shares of HDFC Bank ended 0.1% higher at ₹768.55 after declining as much as 2.1% earlier in the day.

The reshuffle in the market cap rankings follows the underperformance of traditional heavyweights such as information technology and banks. Before HDFC Bank, TCS occupied the second spot, but the sell-off in the stock amid uncertainty over AI-related disruption eroded its market value by almost half.

Shares of the telecom giant have dropped 8.2% this year, while HDFC Bank is down 22.4% in 2026. The Nifty 50 has declined 9.6% in this period.

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