Sensex Crashes 1,600 Points, Nifty Below 14,350 On Rising Covid Cases

Banking shares were worst hit as Nifty PSU Bank index plunged 9 per cent and Nifty Bank index plunged over 5 per cent.

The Indian equity benchmarks crashed on Monday as rising Covid-19 cases in the country stoked fears of lockdowns. The Sensex dropped as much as 1,811 points or 3.65 per cent to hit an intraday low of 47,780 and Nifty 50 index tumbled below its important psychological level of 14,300 at the day's lowest level. All but two shares in the Nifty 50 basket were trading with a negative bias. As of 12:55 pm, the Sensex fell 1,689 points to 47,902 and Nifty 50 index dropped 506 points or 3.41 per cent to 14,328. India reported a record daily tally of 168,912 COVID-19 infections on Monday, the world's highest, while worries grew over a further spike, as hundreds of thousands of devotees gathered for a ritual bath in the Ganges river. India now accounts for one in every six daily infections worldwide. Monday's new cases carried it past Brazil, for an overall tally of 13.53 million, data compiled by Reuters shows, placing it second after the United States, with 31.2 million.