The Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in afternoon trading with Sensex rising as much as 470 points and Nifty 50 index moving above its important psychological level of 17,800 on the back of a broad-based buying interest.

In the first half of the trade benchmarks fluctuated between gains and losses owing to weak global cues.

However, late buying in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel and HDFC Bank lifted the benchmarks.As of 2:57 pm, the Sensex was up 444 points at 59,743 and Nifty 50 index gained 138 points to 17,829.Hopes of strong September quarter earnings, which will start with IT giant TCS, and continuation of dovish monetary policy from the Reserve Bank of India later in the week lifted investors' sentiment, analysts said.Nine of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Oil - Gas index's 2.7 per cent gain.Shares of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea rallied as much as 3.26 per cent and 7 per cent each respectively after the government said it is willing to reconsider one-time spectrum charges (OTSC) of Rs 40,000 crore levied on telecom companies.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked the Supreme Court for three week time to review its decision to penalise telcos - Airtel and Vodafone Idea - for a delay in paying one-time spectrum charges.