According to reports, in the early trade on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex fell 576 points (0.07 percent) to 81,984, while another equity index Nifty50 dropped 193 points (0.76 percent) to 25,087.
Meanwhile, the market capitalisation of all listed companies on the BSE fell by Rs 3.1 lakh crore to Rs 462.4 lakh crore in early trade.
Among the Sensex constituents, IT, Financial, and Metal stocks saw the steepest declines, and companies like Infosys, ICICI Bank, L&T, TCS, Bharti Airtel, and SBI were the main contributors to the index's fall.
JSW Steel and Tata Steel emerged as the top losers, each dropping around 1.5 percent, as per reports.
Market experts said concerns over a potential US economic slowdown, sharp decline in global markets -- particularly in technology stocks, investors' focus on the Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting on Sept 17-18, and the struggling Chinese economy were the key factors behind Wednesday's bloodbath in Dalal Street.