Market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty dropped by almost half a percentage point on Friday as banking shares tumbled following the Supreme Court taking a strong note of non-compliance of its order asking telcos to pay Rs 1.47 lakh crore in statutory dues.

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the top echelons of telecom firms to explain why contempt action should not be taken against them for non-compliance of its order to pay adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of Rs 1.47 lakh crore to the telecom department.

The order raised concerns over banks' exposure to AGR-hit telcos, mainly Vodafone Idea which reported more than Rs 6,000 crore loss for the October-December quarter.

The telecom department also withdrew its order that asked for no coercive action against telecom companies defaulting on statutory dues payment.

The 30-share benchmark index ended at 41257.74 down by -202.05 points or by -0.49 % and then NSE Nifty was at 12113.45 down by -61.2 points or by -0.5 %.

Sensex touched intraday high of 41702.36 and intraday low of 41183.13 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 12246.7 and intraday low of 12091.2

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 565.10,+4.69%), HCL Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 621.40,+1.42%), ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 545.85,+0.90%), Reliance Industries Ltd. (Rs. 1486.65,+0.86%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 833.95,+0.72%), among others.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were IndusInd Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1176.35,-4.38%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 184.15,-3.26%), State Bank of India (Rs. 319.55,-2.41%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 2355.00,-2.24%), NTPC Ltd. (Rs. 112.80,-2.00%), among others.

Among the sectors, TECk index was at 8200.36 up by 18.26 points or by 0.22%. Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Rs. 565.10,+4.69%), Inox Leisure Ltd. (Rs. 473.20,+3.58%), TV Today Network Ltd. (Rs. 252.60,+3.29%), MindTree Ltd. (Rs. 957.30,+2.32%), MphasiS Ltd. (Rs. 907.55,+1.66%),.

On the flip side, Power index was at 1851.73 down by -43.86 points or by -2.31%. Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. (Rs. 19.50,-6.47%), Adani Transmission Ltd. (Rs. 327.75,-3.38%), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (Rs. 184.15,-3.26%), ABB India Ltd. (Rs. 1231.70,-2.97%), Tata Power Company Ltd. (Rs. 53.70,-2.81%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2949 , shares advanced were 1035 while 1707 shares declined and 207 were unchanged.