Bharti Airtel Limited — Ethics Grade C-

Bharti Airtel Limited receives an overall ethics grade of C- (45/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Telecommunications. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 55
• privacy: 25
• consumer: 40
• environment: 50
• humanRights: 50

Documented incidents (3)

• Unauthorized Bank Account Creation (high, 2018) — Airtel used national ID (Aadhaar) verification of mobile customers to open bank accounts without their explicit consent, resulting in a suspension of its e-KYC license by the Indian government.
• Customer Data Leak Allegations (high, 2023) — A security researcher claimed to have found a vulnerability in Airtel's API that exposed the personal data, including GPS coordinates and address info, of over 300 million users. Airtel denied a breach occurred but patched the flaw.
• AGR Dues Dispute (medium, 2020) — Airtel faced significant legal battles over Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), with the Indian Supreme Court ordering massive payments for under-reporting revenues used to calculate government fees.

Documented good deeds

• Digital Inclusion Program — Expanded high-speed internet connectivity to over 20,000 rural villages in Africa and India to reduce the digital divide.

Ethical alternatives

• Reliance Jio — More recent network infrastructure with fewer historical regulatory disputes regarding banking compliance.