Here are the top reasons behind the steep fall:

Global scare

What WHO's top officials said

Global recession?

GDP data awaited

FPIs on a selling spree

(With agency inputs)

NEW DELHI: Domestic equity indices tanked sharply on Friday tracking global markets on growing fears that the coronavirus outbreak could turn into a pandemic and derail economic growth. The benchmark BSE sensex dived 1,448 points or 3.64 per cent to close at 38,297; while the broader NSE Nifty moved 432 points or 3.71 per cent to close at 11,202.In consecutive six sessions, the BSE index has lost 2,872 points. Major gainers in the 30-share pack include Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, SBI and Bajaj Finance with their shares falling as much as 8.14 per cent and apart from ITC, all the stocks finished in red.All sub-indices finished with heavy losses on the NSE platform. Nifty Metal and Media cracked as much as 7.34 per cent.Stocks wiped nearly Rs 5.5 lakh crore of investor wealth with the total market capitalisation of BSE listed companies falling below Rs 150 lakh crore-mark.The carnage in the equity market wiped out investor wealth worth Rs 5,45,452.52‬ crore, taking the total m-cap to Rs 1,46,94,571.56 crore on the BSE. The m-cap of BSE-listed companies stood at Rs 1,52,40,024.08 crore at the end of trading on Thursday.On the global front, investors dumped equities in expectation of a global recession amid rising Covid-19 worries. Share prices were on track for the worst week since the global financial crisis in 2008 as virus-related disruptions to international travel and supply chains fuelled fears of recession in the United States and the Euro zone."The coronavirus now looks like a pandemic. Markets can cope even if there is big risk as long as we can see the end of the tunnel," Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told news agency Reuters.World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said all nations should prepare."This virus has pandemic potential," Tedros said. "This is not a time for fear. This is a time for taking action to prevent infection and save lives now."The head of the WHO’s emergency program, Mike Ryan, said Iran’s outbreak may be worse than realised. Iran has suffered the most deaths outside China.Ratings agency Moody’s said a pandemic - usually taken to mean a disease spreading quickly in different places - would trigger global recession in the first half of the year.Hopes that the deadly coronavirus would be contained to China vanished as infections spread rapidly around the world, countries started stockpiling medical equipment and investors took flight in expectation of a global recession. There were concerns about how India would cope with a widespread outbreak.Investor sentiment also remained sluggish amid reports that GDP (gross domestic product) growth is likely to stay flat in October-December 2019.The government's GDP estimate for the December quarter is scheduled to be released later in the day. The economy suffered its weakest expansion in over six years in the September quarter.Further, relentless selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) spooked retail investors, traders said.According to provisional data available with stock exchanges, so far this week, FPIs have offloaded stocks worth a whopping Rs 6,812.57 crore on a net basis.