Telecom companies in India: list of 28 telecom stocks

The screen has one rule: the company's industry is Telecom - Services. There is no price, size or profit cut-off, so loss-making and thinly traded companies appear beside the largest ones. The list is sorted by market cap, which is the share price multiplied by the number of shares.

The group mixes businesses that earn in different ways. Mobile operators such as Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom and Vodafone Idea charge subscribers for plans. Indus Towers rents space on its towers to operators. The list follows the industry tag, not each company's main product.

P/E is market cap divided by the last twelve months' profit that belongs to the company's own shareholders, after the share of other owners of its subsidiaries. Companies that report half-yearly use their last two half-years.

ROCE, return on capital employed, is operating profit after depreciation, leaving out other income and one-off items, as a percentage of capital employed. Capital employed is the group's net worth, including other owners of its subsidiaries, plus borrowings. Lease liabilities are left out because results filings do not state them.

ARPU is average revenue per user: an operator's revenue divided by its average subscribers over a period. Adjusted gross revenue, or AGR, is the revenue base on which operators pay the government a licence fee and a spectrum usage charge. Spectrum is the radio frequency band the government assigns, mostly by auction, to carry calls and data.

The 1D and 1Y columns show the share price change over one day and one year. Prices are adjusted for splits and bonuses, demerged shares are counted, and dividends are not added.