Title: Financial behaviour of selected telecom companies in India: a comparative analysis

Authors: Sadhna Shukla; T.N. Roopa

Addresses: Research Scholar, #355-A, M.G. Railway Colony, Magadi Road, Bangalore, 560023, India ' Jnana Prabha, Virgo Nagar Post, Aavalahalli, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560049, India

Abstract: The financial ratio analysis is considered as a powerful tool to illustrate the relative measures of a firm's financial strengths and weaknesses and is an indicator of potential problems of different aspects of a company's operations. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the financial performance with the help of ratio analysis of the leading telecom giants in India viz. Airtel, BSNL, Idea, Reliance Communications and Tata Communications. The key financial ratios used to estimate the financial behaviour of telecom companies are profitability ratios, liquidity ratios, solvency ratios and efficiency ratios. The data used to calculate the ratios were collected from companies' annual reports between 2009 and 2014, using the internet as the primary medium. The analysis done reveals that Airtel and Idea dominate Reliance Communications, BSNL and Tata Communications in data revenue growth and subscriber base.

Keywords: efficiency ratios; financial ratio analysis; liquidity ratios; profitability ratios; solvency ratios; telecoms; telecommunications industry; India; firm performance; financial performance; financial behaviour; annual reports; revenue growth; subscriber base; Airtel; BSNL; Idea; Reliance Communications; Tata Communications.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2017.081971

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2017 Vol.14 No.2, pp.141 - 161

Received: 06 Nov 2015
Accepted: 15 Feb 2016
Published online: 31 Jan 2017 *

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