Shares of Indus Towers Ltd fell as much as 14 percent on Thursday following a block deal on the counter wherein nearly 3 percent of the total equity of the company changed hands on the bourses.

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At 10 am, Indus Towers shares were trading 11.23 percent down at Rs 223 on the BSE. While benchmark indices extended the opening losses and were trading near the day's low level with Nifty around 16,500. The Sensex shed 3.35 percent at 55,314.31.

A combined 74.4 million equity shares, representing 2.8 percent of total equity of Indus Tower, had changed hands on the NSE and BSE till 10 am.

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British telecom giant Vodafone Plc announced on Wednesday that it would sell a 2.4 percent stake in Indus Towers via a block deal to telecom major Bharti Airtel.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Group are the company's promoters. Currently, Vodafone holds about 28 percent while Bharti Airtel holds close to 42 percent.

Indus Towers posted a 16 percent rise in consolidated profit at Rs 1,570.8 crore in the three months ended December 2021 while revenues stood at Rs 6,927 crore during the same period.

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Vodafone was in discussions to sell around a 5 percent stake in Indus Towers to Bharti Airtel, according to a PTI report. The stake is estimated to be valued at over Rs 3,300 crore, and the proceeds will be pumped into the Indian entity Vodafone Idea, the report said.

Indus Towers, formerly Bharti Infratel Ltd, is a leading provider of passive telecom infrastructure. It deploys, owns and manages telecom towers and communication structures for various mobile operators.

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(Edited by : Akanksha Upadhyay)