Bharti Tele was contained on Thursday by the Union Cabinet's deferring a decision on raising foreign direct investment limit in the telecom sector.

High expectations that the FDI limit would be raised in the telecom sector had sent the scrip spiraling 23.6% to Rs 33.25 from Rs 33.25 between 31 March and 23 April 2003.

But the Union Cabinet's putting off the decision on FDI limit grounded the scrip on Thursday. By 11:40 IST, the scrip of Bharti Tele-Ventures shed 6.17% to Rs 31.20 on volumes of over 122,000 shares on BSE.

Besides telecom, a decision has been delayed for the aviation, non-news print media and petroleum sectors as well.

The overall foreign holding in Bharti currently is 46.94%, while the company has a ceiling of 47% for FIIs under the portfolio investment scheme. As on 31 December 2003, promoters hold 46.56% in BTL, while the public and institutions hold 2.48% and 2.32%, respectively.

The company has posted impressive results for the fourth quarter ended 31 March 2003. For Q4, Bharti Tele-Ventures reported a net profit of Rs 1.06 crore compared to a net loss of Rs 2.45 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. Total revenue increased from Rs 6.8 million in MQ-02 to Rs 4.48 crore in MQ-03.