Indian shares fell on Tuesday, dragged by information technology stocks on U.S. rate worries, while volatility climbed to a 23-month high.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 was down 0.14% at 22,471.50 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex shed 0.20% to 73,850.14, as of 10:04 a.m. IST.

Eight out of 13 sub-sector indexes logged losses, with the highest-weighted financial stocks losing 0.3%.

IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S., fell 0.6%, on worries about U.S. interest rates staying higher for longer after Federal Reserve officials maintained a cautious view on inflation.

Meanwhile, volatility in Indian markets rose to 22.30 in intraday trade, a 23-month-high, ahead of election results on June 4 and amid persistent foreign selling.

"Given the uncertainty over election results, foreign investors have been aggressively selling shares since the second half of April, adding to the pressure on markets," said Sujit Modi, chief investment officer at Bengaluru-based online investment platform Share.Market.

FPIs have offloaded Indian shares worth 282.42 billion rupees in May, the highest since January 2023.

"The likelihood of delay in the onset of rate cuts in the U.S. has also added to the concerns," added Modi.

The small-caps and mid-caps shed 0.3% each, mirroring the benchmarks.

"Caution prevails in broader markets, as profit-booking is highly likely in the segments after election results," said G Chokkalingam, managing director of research at Equinomics Research.

Among individual stocks, Nestle India fell over 2%, walking back gains made in the previous session, as the shareholders of the local arm voted against a royalty hike to Swiss parent Nestle SA.

The KitKat chocolate maker was the top loser on the benchmark Nifty.

Bharat Electronics rose 9% to a record high after reporting a 30% jump in March-quarter profit.

Oil India rose about 4% to an all-time high after reporting a rise in fourth-quarter profit.

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Janane Venkatraman )