However, bucking the overall trend at domestic bourses Infosys rallied over 4 per cent post stellar Q3 earnings.
Infosys shares climbed 4.48 per cent to Rs 1,130.85 after the company reported a consolidated third quarter net profit of Rs 3,465 crore, up by 6.6 per cent year-on-year.
The 30-share index tumbled 365.08 points, or 1.46 per cent, to 24,489.03 in early trade with sectoral indices led by metal, capital goods, auto, banking and realty trading in negative zone, falling up to 2.48 per cent.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty fell below 7,500-mark, dropping 118.60 points, or 1.56 per cent, to 7,443.80 points.
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Among 30 Sensex scrips, 28 were in negative zone with Tata Steel plunging the most by 5.49 per cent to Rs 233.45.
Other major losers that dragged down the key indices included Tata Motors, Axis Bank, BHEL, L&T, M&M, SBI, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Asian Paint, GAIL, Coal Inda, NTPC and Bharti Airtel.
Sustained selling by funds amid weak trend on Asian bourses following overnight sell-off in US markets on renewed jitters about the world's top economy and broader concerns about global growth triggered selling on the domestic bourses here, brokers said.
Among Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 1.57 per cent and Japan's Nikkei index shed 3.57 per cent in the morning trade.
Shanghai Composite index too fell 1.09 per cent on concerns over the economy.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 2.21 per cent lower in yesterday's trade.