MTNL's consolidated Q2 FY27 loss narrows 13% YoY to ₹835 Cr as revenue grows 19%

MTNL posted a consolidated net loss of ₹835.45 Cr for Q2 FY27 (quarter ended September 30, 2026), 13.0% narrower than the ₹960.21 Cr loss a year ago, as net revenue from operations grew 19.4% YoY to ₹242.36 Cr. Sequentially, revenue was up 11.7% on ₹216.89 Cr in Q1 FY27 and the loss narrowed a marginal 0.8% from ₹842.36 Cr — so the improvement story is a YoY one, not a fresh quarterly inflection. Standalone (the entity on which the government's support and default disclosures bite directly) mirrors the group almost exactly at a ₹832.88 Cr loss, since MTNL's two subsidiaries and one joint venture are immaterial to the group (combined ₹34.50 Cr income, ₹3.49 Cr net loss per the auditors' note). There is no formal company guidance on record and no brokerage/consensus coverage could be found for this result — MTNL is a defaulting PSU outside active analyst tracking — so both vsGuidance and vsStreet are marked unknown rather than guessed.

The margin trajectory is genuinely improving: net margin moved from -472.92% a year ago to -388.38% last quarter to -344.71% now, and operating margin (EBIT-less-other-income over revenue) improved from -116.44% to -78.37% to -62.93% over the same three points. The driver is topline, not cost control — standalone "Basic & other Services" revenue jumped 41% YoY (₹61.82 Cr to ₹87.16 Cr), well ahead of Infrastructure Leasing's steady ₹121.48 Cr to ₹136.22 Cr climb, while Cellular revenue was roughly flat to down. Expenses stayed broadly flat in absolute terms (consolidated total expenses ₹1,151.70 Cr vs ₹1,181.82 Cr YoY), so the narrower loss is almost entirely a revenue-growth story sitting on top of an expense base still dominated by finance cost — ₹756.33 Cr of the ₹1,151.70 Cr total, more than three times revenue, tied to interest on GoI sovereign-guarantee-backed bonds (₹24,071 Cr) and bank loans.

The stock went into the print at ₹26.12, up 10.2% over the past month of trading.

For context: this is the second-highest quarterly PAT of the last 6 quarters.

Consolidated EPS loss narrowed to ₹13.26 from ₹15.24 YoY — standalone EPS loss narrowed to ₹13.22 from ₹15.22 YoY.

That finance-cost burden is colliding with an inability to service it: MTNL defaulted on bank principal and interest payments again this quarter (events dated September 14, October 9 and November 11, 2026), and as of September 30, 2026 all ₹9,732 Cr of bank loans/revolving facilities are non-performing, with ₹4,183 Cr (₹2,246 Cr principal + ₹1,937 Cr interest) already in default. Total financial indebtedness stands at ₹37,553 Cr against a negative net worth of ₹31,618 Cr (standalone), and the filing's own going-concern note again flags the company as an "Incipient Sick CPSE," kept on a going-concern basis only because of majority Government of India ownership. No management press release or concall commentary was available in the records provided for this quarter, so the result cannot be checked against management's own framing beyond the filing's notes.