After opening the day on a flat note, share markets in India witnessed volatile trading activity and are trading on a flat note with a negative bias. Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed note with stocks in the realty sector and stocks in the power sector trading in green, while stocks in the IT sector are leading the losses.

The BSE Sensex is trading down by 42 points (down 0.2%), and the NSE Nifty is trading down by 14 points (down 0.2%). Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 0.6%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 0.5%. The rupee is trading at 64.50 to the US$.

In news from stocks in the telecom sector. Bharti Airtel share price and Idea cellular share price have continued to reel under pressure from the new entrant Reliance Jio.

Mobile subscriber additions by the incumbents have seen a steady decline since the launch of Jio in September 2016.

According to the Cellular Operators’ Association of India, Airtel witnessed a 5% drop in monthly subscriber additions in October. In November, subscriber additions by Airtel fell to 1.1 million from 2.3 million in the previous month.

Airtel’s subscriber additions in December-January revived with a plethora of offers, but declined to 1.3 million in February from 3.6 million in the previous month.

Idea Cellular, too, announced higher data use limits in select unlimited calling plans and is offering additional mobile broadband data for customers who upgrade to 4G handsets.

These offers by the incumbents were designed to counter Reliance Jio’s Happy New Year offer announced in December, an extension of its Welcome offer announced in September.

Jio’s Data Pricing Disrupts the Telecom Apple Cart

The entry of Reliance Jio and the fierce tariff war it has triggered have set off brisk activity in the industry for fundraising and consolidation, as the incumbents look for ways and means to fend off the competition.