"We are entering a relationship with a major company which shares our vision and values and understands as we do the enormous potential of mobile telephony in society," Vodafone chief executive Arun Sarin told a press conference.
Vodafone will buy a 4.4 percent stake from Bharti Enterprises and another 5.6 percent from investment firm Warburg Pincus. Bharti Enterprises will maintain a controlling state of 45.9 percent in Bharti Televentures.
Bharti Televentures had 14 million mobile phone customers as of September 2005 and owns the largest network of mobile services across India. Vodafone has 165 million customers world-wide.
The deal also makes Vodafone a partner with Southeast Asia's biggest telephone company, Singapore Telecommunications, which already owns a 15 percent stake in Bharti Televentures.