Stock markets closed lower on Thursday, with telecom stocks like Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular leading the fall after Reliance Industries Limited launched their new mobile network Jio, NDTV reported. While the Sensex closed 29 points lower at 28,249, the Nifty fell 12 points to end trading at 8,775.

Shares of Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular ended 6.3% and 10.5% lower respectively following the launch of Reliance Jio, where RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani announced free domestic voice calls and low data package rates, the report said. Furthermore, both companies lost a total of over Rs 12,000 crore in market capitalisation following Ambani’s announcement, with a substantial share of that capitalisation being lost within 45 minutes of Jio’s launch. However, RIL also ended the day 3% lower.

Stocks were also affected after official data released on Wednesday showed India’s Gross Domestic Product growth slowing to 7.1% in the April-June quarter. Stocks of cement companies also fell after eleven companies were fined an amount of Rs 6,320 crore for price fixing by the Competition Commission of India. The slump in the markets came after three straight days of positive trading for both the Sensex and the Nifty, with the latter registering a 16-month high on Tuesday.