India, Oct. 28 -- The Sensex and Nifty fell sharply in early trade on Wednesday, dragged down by IT stocks, rising crude oil prices and caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy decision.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 601.14 points to 72,997.55, while the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 146 points to 22,604.80. On Tuesday, the Sensex had dipped 8.08 points, or 0.01 per cent, to settle at 73,598.67, and the Nifty had ended 3.45 points lower at 22,749.75.

Among Sensex constituents, Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC and Asian Paints were among the biggest laggards. Larsen & Toubro (L&T) jumped over 4 per cent after the engineering major reported a 32.5 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 5,202...