The headline equity indices declined further and hit a fresh intraday low in early afternoon trade. The Nifty slipped below the 17,600 level. PSU bank stocks tumbled for the third consecutive trading session. 

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 977.57 points or 1.62% to 59,227.49. The Nifty 50 index lost 312.05 points or 1.74% to 17,579.90. 

Concurrently, The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, zoomed 17.63% to 17.24. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 1.98% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index declined 2.26%. 

Sellers outnumbered buyers. On the BSE, 669 shares rose, and 2,752 shares fell. A total of 107 shares were unchanged. 

Derivatives: 

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, surged 17.63% to 17.24. The Nifty 23 February 2023 futures were trading at 17,706.70, at a premium of 126.8 points as compared with the spot at 17,579.90. 

The Nifty option chain for the 23 February 2023 expiry showed maximum Call OI of 25.6 lakh contracts at the 18,000 strike price. Maximum Put OI of 32.6 lakh contracts were seen at 18,000 strike price. 

The Nifty PSU Bank index tumbled 4.80% to 3,846.25. The index slumped 9.46% in three sessions. 

Bank of Baroda down 5.68%, Bank of Maharashtra down 5.26%, Canara Bank down 4.98%, Punjab National Bank down 4.66%, Punjab & Sind Bank down 4.53%, Union Bank of India down 4.46%, State Bank of India down 4.24%, Indian Overseas Bank down 4.2%, UCO Bank down 4.13% and Central Bank of India down 3.87% declined. 

Patanjali Foods hit an lower circuit of 5%. The FMCG company's net profit rose 15% to Rs 269.19 crore on 26.2% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 7,926.64 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22. The FMCG company said that the macro challenges faced earlier in terms of geo-political standoff, soaring inflation, supply constraints, high interest rates and demand concerns have waned a bit. International food, energy and other commodity prices have eased moderately in recent times. India, per se, has revived fast supported by good progress of rabi sowing, sustained urban demand, improving rural demand, a pick-up in manufacturing, rebound in services and robust credit expansion. 

Torrent Pharmaceuticals declined 1.84%. The pharma company's consolidated net profit rose 13.7% to Rs 283 crore on 18.17% jump in net revenue from operations to Rs 2,491 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22. 

CEAT slipped 4.40%. The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 35.39 crore in Q3 FY23 as compared with net loss of Rs 20.01 crore in Q3 FY22. Net sales rose 13% to Rs 2,727.20 crore in Q3 FY23 as against Rs 2,413.27 crore in Q3 FY22.