India's Bharti Airtel drops after multiple block deals at discount

** Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd BRTI.NS drop 2.3% to 1,879 rupees

** Stock biggest loser on blue-chip Nifty 50 .NSEI index

** Over 73 million BRTI shares trade hands in 126 block deals, all at a discount to previous closing price of 1922.60 rupees - National Stock Exchange of India data

** News channel CNBC-TV18 on Thursday reported that promoter Indian Continent Investment plans to sell 0.8% stake it owns in co for $1 billion

** Over 78.5 million shares traded in stocks's second-most active session this year, 16.2x the 30-day average volume

** Analysts rate BRTI and Jio owner Reliance Industries RELI.NS "buy" on avg, while smaller rival Vodafone Idea VODA.NS rated "hold" - data compiled by LSEG

** BRTI stock up ~18% YTD, RELI up 14.3%, VODA down ~16%