New Delhi, Mar 2 (IANS): India's key indices -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- have declined sharply in early trade on Wednesday as investors worried about the ongoing geo-strategic war.

At 10.04 a.m., Sensex was 1.6 per cent or 921 points down at 55,326 points, whereas Nifty 1.4 per cent or 232 points down at 16,562 points.

Lower than expected GDP growth during Q3FY22 also weighed on the investors sentiment.

"Q3 GDP growth at 5.4 per cent came lower than expected. This slowdown is likely to be extended, going forward. As things stand now, India's GDP growth for FY 23 will be lower and inflation higher than estimates. This is negative for the stock market," said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. A

Among stocks, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, and HDFC Bank were the top five losers in the opening session, declining 3.8 per cent, 3.8 per cent, 3.7 per cent, 3.6 per cent, and 3.3 per cent, respectively.

Hindalco, Coal India, Tata Steel, ONGC, and JSW Steel were the top five gainers, NSE data showed.