Benchmark indices cracked in trade, with the Nifty and the Sensex seeing the worst fall since Oct, 2018. Poor GDP numbers, falling rupee and poor auto numbers weighed on the markets. The Sensex ended the day lower by a huge 769 points, while the Nifty dropped 225 points, as investors sold heavily into stocks on a poor GDP number of 5%.

A fall in the rupee to a new 2019 low, only aggravated the selling, even as bond prices rallied on hopes that the Reserve Bank of India would cut interest rates sharply.

A solid drop of 3.7 per cent in the stock of HDFC, is what weighed in the markets. The stock is a heavyweight in the index and has largely been one of the stocks that had been instrumental in the Sensex and the Nifty closing at record highs earlier this year.

Poor cues from across the globe, were also playing on sentiments. Dow Futures were pointing to deeper cuts, while the European markets were also trading with losses.

IT stocks were among the few stocks from the Nifty that gained ground. Among these included the likes of Tech Mahindra, TCS and Infosys. IDBI Bank surged almost 9 per cent in trade, following reports that the government would infuse fresh capital of nearly 9,000 crores into the bank.

The top losers from the Nifty were HDFC, Eicher Motors, ICICI Bank and Ultratech Cement.

PSU banking stocks which saw a merger fell sharpy, particularly the anchoring banks. Shares of Punjab National Bank was the hardest hit with the stock dropping as much as 8 per cent, while Union Bank was down 7 per cent and Canara Bank down a huge 9 per cent as well.

Auto stocks also ended the day lower on weak August numbers. Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Motors and Maruti were among the losers in trade.

Meanwhile, the rupee hit a new 52-week low in trade and was last seen tradig at 72.31 to the dollar.

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