Key Indian equity indices on Wednesday touched 52-week low due mainly to a fall in the country's factory output to 3.8 percent in November from an impressive growth of 9.8 percent in the month before.
The scramble for cash by investors and the resultant heavy selling also pulled the markets down, analyst say.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading 70.45 points or 0.94 percent down at 7,439.85 points.
The 30-scrip Sensitive Index, Sensex, of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 24,804.64 points, was trading at 24,437.49 points (at 01.12 p.m.) in the early session, down 244.54 points or 0.99 percent from the previous day's close at 24,682.03 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 24,909.22 points and a low of 24,387.69 points in the trade so far.
Heavy selling was seen in capital goods, industrials, telecom and power sectors.