Mumbai: India’s stock markets crashed on Tuesday, after investors sold across the board over concerns of a slowing economy.At the day’s low, the 30-share benchmark Sensex fell over 850 points and hit 36,466. This was the first day of market trading after data released by the Central Statistics Office last Friday showed that India’s GDP grew at its slowest in over six years.While the Sensex plunged nearly 770 points, the single biggest day fall so far in 2019, the NSE Nifty tumbled over 225 points on Tuesday.A slew of recent macroeconomic data on GDP, core sector growth and auto sales are pointing towards a deepening economic rout in the country.After nosediving 867 points during the day, the 30-share key index ended 769.88 points, or 2.06%, lower at 36,562.91. The broader Nifty too sank 225.35 points, or 2.04 % to settle at 10,797.90.According to market analysts, the decline was led primarily by banking stocks, with the Nifty bank index falling 2.2%. Punjab National Bank fell 9%, ICICI Bank 4%, HDFC 4%, RBL 4% and Axis Bank 3%.Other top losers in the Sensex pack included Tata Steel, Vedanta, Tata Motors, RIL and ONGC – falling up to 4.45 %. Only two IT stocks – TechM, HCL Tech – ended with mild gains, tracking weaker rupee.The rupee also plunged 90 paise (intra-day) to trade at 72.27 per US dollar.All sectoral indices ended in the red, with BSE metal, energy, consumer durable, telecom, bankex, finance, oil and gas, realty and capital goods indices settled 3.23 % lower. Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices too closed up to 1.65 % lower.“The sharp fall in the Q1 GDP growth to 5 % and the weak core sector growth are the key factors that have caused a fall in the markets as it opened after a long weekend. The continuing negative global cues, the raging tariff war between the United States and China, and the likely sluggishness in the economic fortunes of economies around the world have also been behind the rot in the markets here as well as elsewhere,” said Joseph Thomas, Head of Research, Emkay Wealth Management.Weak domestic consumption especially in rural areas has resulted mainly from low employment levels and non-availability of finance, which are issues that call for immediate measures to salvage the situation, he added.Also read: What Can the Government Do to Revive India’s Real Economy?The fall in public sector bank stocks also came after the government announced the merger of ten state-run lenders into four. While there is good news on the governance and recapitalising front, the market still expects the mergers to be painful due to the geographic and cultural diversity of the merging entities.Despite several efforts by the government to boost the economy, market sentiment took a hit on account of weak macroeconomic data releases and double-digit decline in auto sales in August as the sector continued to reel under one of the worst slowdowns in its history.Official data released after market hours on Friday showed that India’s GDP growth slipped to an over six-year low of 5 % in the June quarter of 2019-20, hit by a sharp deceleration in manufacturing output and subdued farm sector activity.Additionally, the country’s manufacturing sector activity declined to its 15-month low in August, owing to slower increases in sales, output and employment, the IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index showed.Growth of eight core industries also dropped to 2.1 % in July, mainly due to contraction in coal, crude oil and natural gas production, according to a government data released on Monday.Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan ended on a mixed note after the US and China on Sunday put in place their latest tariff increases on each other’s goods.Exchanges in Europe were also trading the red in their respective early sessions. Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1.07 % to 58.03 per barrel (intraday).(With inputs from PTI)