Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 21.79 points, or 0.06% to 36,409.88.

On the BSE, 69,000 shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 4.39 lakh shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 324.60 and a low of Rs 318 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 547.20 on 27 December 2017. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 277 on 22 October 2018.

Bharti Airtel's board approved sale of up to 59.18 crore equity shares, representing 32% stake of Bharti Infratel owned by the company to its arm Nettle Infrastructure Investments. After the deal, Bharti Airtel will own 18.33% stake in its Infratel arm and Nettle Infrastructure Investments and the public will hold 35.18% and 46.49%, respectively.

Shares of Bharti Infratel were down 0.11% to Rs 261.45.

Further, Bharti Airtel's board formed and authorised 'special committee of directors for fund raising' to comprehensively explore/evaluate various options of fund-raising for the company to strengthen its capital structure and balance sheet and place the final recommendation before the board for its approval/final decision.

Separately, the Bharti Airtel board Thursday named Badal Bagri as the company's new CFO, who will replace global CFO Nilanjan Roy, who has resigned. The announcements were made after market hours yesterday, 20 December 2018.

Bharti Airtel's consolidated net profit fell 57.48% to Rs 249.20 crore on 6.22% decline in net sales to Rs 20422.50 crore in Q2 September 2018 over Q2 September 2017.

Bharti Airtel is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa.