The Indian equity benchmarks fell sharply lower on Monday mirrorring losses in global equity markets after US Federal Reserve on Friday hinted at aggressive rate hikes going ahead to control inflation which is at highest level in nearly 4 decades in US. The Sensex fell as much as 785 points and Nifty 5 index dropped below its important psychological level of 17,000. Most of the Asian markets were trading lower following weak closing of US markets on Friday. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.9 per cent, Taiwan Weighted up 2.5 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.6 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI declined 1.6 per cent.