Synopsis Bharti Airtel has overtaken HDFC Bank to become India’s second most valuable listed company. Airtel shares rose over 2%, taking its market capitalisation to around Rs 11.8 lakh crore, while HDFC Bank shares fell more than 2%, reducing its market cap to nearly Rs 11.7 lakh crore. Reliance Industries remains India’s most valuable company with a market capitalisation of about Rs 18 lakh crore.ETMarkets.comBharti Airtel has overtaken HDFC Bank to become India’s second most valuable listed company. Underscoring how stock market investors are treating telecom companies and banks, Bharti Airtel has officially overtaken HDFC Bank to claim the rank of India's second most valuable listed company. Airtel shares climbed over 2% to Rs 1,943 on the BSE, pushing its market capitalisation to approximately Rs 11.8 lakh crore. HDFC Bank, by contrast, fell over 2% during the same session, leaving its market cap at around Rs 11.7 lakh crore.Only Reliance Industries (RIL), Mukesh Ambani's oil-to-retail conglomerate, remains ahead, with a market cap of approximately Rs 18 lakh crore.The milestone is not a one-day story. Over the past five years, Airtel shares have surged 270%, while HDFC Bank has delivered a comparatively modest 49% return, a gap that captures the structural re-rating of Indian telecoms against a banking giant that has struggled to regain its pre-pandemic valuation dominance amid the impact of the merger, rising competition from public sector banks, and the recent controversy surrounding the resignation of its chairman.The rest of the top 10 by market capitalisation includes ICICI Bank, SBI, TCS, Bajaj Finance, L&T, HUL, and LIC.Why Dalal Street is bullish on AirtelBofA Securities, with a target price of Rs 2,320, argues the risk-reward remains firmly in Airtel's favour. "We see Bharti witnessing good market share gains, healthy momentum in non-cellular business segments and an upside optionality from data center business," the bank said. "We expect Bharti's FCF to continue to inch up going ahead as competition is stable-to-declining and we don't foresee any material capex increase ahead."Also Read | Sunil Bharti Mittal to hand over Airtel to his children in 10 yrs, desires Bharti Telecom regains 51% stake in coJP Morgan, with a March 2027 price target of Rs 2,250, points to three specific catalysts outside of 5G premiumisation: "Growth in adjacencies, deleveraging and rising dividends should be the key catalysts for the stock." The bank values India wireless at 12x EV/EBITDA, Home broadband at 12.5x, and assigns a lower 10x multiple to the Digital TV business.Goldman Sachs also retains a Buy, though it trimmed its 12-month DCF-based target marginally to Rs 2,210 from Rs 2,250, citing weakness in the towers and DTH segments. Goldman raised its FY27–FY30 revenue estimates by 1–2% following Q4 results, but trimmed EBITDA estimates by up to 2%.The milestone comes on the back of mixed but broadly credible Q4FY26 results. Consolidated revenues and EBITDA came in 1–3% ahead of UBS estimates and consensus, but the composition was uneven. Africa delivered a standout performance — revenues up 41% year-on-year, or 17% in constant currency — while India Home broadband grew a strong 9.5% quarter-on-quarter. India's mobile revenues, however, grew just 8% year-on-year and a tepid 0.6% quarter-on-quarter, described by UBS as slightly below its estimates.The company announced a dividend of Rs 24 per share for FY26, up from Rs 16 in FY25 and ahead of consensus expectations of Rs 20, giving a signal of growing confidence in free cash flow generation.Airtel also announced a share swap agreement under which it will acquire ICIL's 16.31% stake in Airtel Africa in exchange for issuing 146.7 million new shares to ICIL, representing approximately 2.4% dilution.Read More News on(What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips, Budget 2025, Share Market on Budget 2025 and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .) Subscribe to ET Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today. Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price...moreless(You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)Read More News on(What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips, Budget 2025, Share Market on Budget 2025 and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .) Subscribe to ET Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today. Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price...moreless