Reuters Market Eye - The BSE Sensex and the Nifty slump nearly 2 percent each, heading for a second day of steep declines as emerging markets remain under pressure.
Falls track lower Asian shares as the U.S. Federal Reserve is poised to continue tapering its monetary stimulus and as fears rise about an economic slowdown in China.
Losses in India are exacerbated by uncertainty ahead of the RBI's policy review on Tuesday.
Although traders had not expected a rate hike earlier this month, expectations have become uncertain after hawkish comments on inflation from the central bank governor and a RBI panel report that recommended making taming retail inflation a priority.
ICICI Bank is down 4.4 percent while HDFC Bank falls 3.5 percent. Tata Motors slumps 5.6 percent after the automaker's managing director, Karl Slym, died on Sunday when he fell from a high floor of a hotel in Bangkok.
Ranbaxy Laboratories falls 7.6 percent, adding to Friday's 19.43 percent plunge, as the drug maker continues to reel after the U.S. drug regulator banned more of its products.
(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi)