Indian equities declined for a third day in a row on Wednesday, making investors poorer by a whopping Rs 15.72 lakh crore in the three-day crash since Monday.

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Intense selling engulfed the equity market for yet another day, with the benchmark index Sensex plummeting 1,709.58 points or 5.59 percent on Wednesday.

Since Monday, the index has plunged 5,233.97 points to hit a one-year low of 28,613.05 as fears of global recession due to coronavirus pandemic hit investor sentiment.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies eroded by Rs 15,72,913.52 crore in three days to reach Rs 1,13,53,329.30 crore on Wednesday.

Barring ONGC and ITC, all 30 Sensex stocks dived. IndusInd Bank, Power Grid Corporation of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance and HDFC Bank were among the major losers, tumbling up to 23.90 per cent.

Banking shares were hit the most following the Supreme Court directive to telecom firms to clear AGR dues in full as mentioned in its judgement.

Indian equity markets witnessed yet another sharp fall, as the increasing number of coronavirus cases and tough stance by the Supreme Court on AGR dues continued to spook the markets," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

"Worries of greater disruptions in businesses rose due to the rising number of new coronavirus cases in India. Many states have shut restaurants, malls, gyms and movie theatres as a precautionary measure," he added.

Further, the Supreme Court held that no further objections to its orders would be allowed against telecom's AGR dues payable.

Banks shares slumped as a collapse of a telecom operator could add to lenders' bad loan pile, Khemka observed.

BSE Telecom, Bank, Finance and Utilities were hit hard the most and plunged up to 9.48 per cent.

At the BSE, 1,882 companies declined, while 963 advanced and 186 remained unchanged.

In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap and small-cap tumbled 4.84 per cent and 6.09 per cent, respectively.

The frontline indexes were down by close to 5.50 per cent, in a market hit by the likely adverse impact of the pandemic, at a time when it was negotiating a critical juncture in the already existing economic sluggishness.

"Markets will continue to mirror the developments overseas till some comfort on the spread of the pandemic is received," according to Joseph Thomas, Head of Research - Emkay Wealth Management.

More than 1,056 companies hit their one year low mark on Wednesday.