BENGALURU: Indian shares rose on Wednesday, helped by IT stocks and telecom firm Bharti Airtel after its upbeat earnings, as investors eyed quarterly results from State Bank of India due later in the day.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.44% to 17,967.30 and the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.41% to 60,275.16 by 0357 GMT. Both indexes are set to end the holiday-shortened week with gains of more than 1%.

In Mumbai trading, shares in Airtel rose as much as 2.6% after the wireless carrier reported a rise in quarterly revenue, boosted by additions in its 4G subscriber base, higher data consumption and stronger revenue per user.

The Nifty IT index rose 0.52%, tracking its fourth session of gains in the last seven.

Shares of State Bank of India were up marginally at 0.8%, as India's biggest lender is due to post September-quarter results later in the day.

Markets will be open for a special "muhurat" trading session on Thursday and will be closed on Friday for the festive season of Diwali.

Traders will also be looking out for the US Federal Reserve's policy statement at 1800 GMT. Markets are almost certain the Fed will announce the tapering of its $120 billion-a-month asset purchase programme.