Bharti Airtel names Soumen Ray as new CFO for India, S. Asia

Bharti Airtel has named Soumen Ray as its new chief financial officer (CFO) for India & South Asia from December 21, replacing Badal Bagri Bagri, who is moving on to pursue opportunities outside of India’s second largest mobile phone company.

Ray will join in his new capacity from December 21, 2021 and will report to Gopal Vittal, managing director (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel, the telecom company said in a statement Friday.

“He (Ray) brings in the right mix of domain expertise, commercial acumen, strategy and business partnering,” Vittal said in the statement.


The Airtel stock closed 0.4% higher at Rs695.40 on the BSE Friday.

A chartered accountant with over 23 years of experience in financial planning, management accounting, factory commercial, treasury and corporate accounts, Ray will be joining Airtel from Bajaj Auto Ltd., where he is currently the CFO. In fact, Ray resigned from Bajaj Auto on Friday.

Ray has been associated with Bajaj Auto Ltd since 2018 and has worked across the entire finance, treasury and taxation spectrum. Prior to this, he has held senior positions in finance and strategy at Viacom18, Hindustan Unilever, ITC and Eveready Industries India, Airtel said.

The appointment comes at a time Bharti Airtel is in the middle of a rights issue to raise nearly Rs 21,000 crore as it readies a war chest for 5G spectrum auctions.

Bagri, who had taken over as CFO in March 2019, oversaw Airtel returning to the black in the midst of steep competition from Reliance Jio. Bharti Airtel has also raised nearly Rs 42,000 crore in qualified institutional placements, the right issue and foreign currency convertible bonds during 2019-2020.