India's wholesale price index probably rose 9.62 percent in February from a year earlier, a Reuters poll of 21 economists showed.
Top lender State Bank of India dropped 0.9 percent while leading private sector lender ICICI Bank shed 1.8 percent.
Mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp declined 0.9 percent. HDFC Bank bucked the trend and edged 0.3 percent higher.
By 10:06 a.m. (0436 GMT), the 30-share BSE index was trading down 0.36 percent at 17,104.23, with 19 of its components declining.
"Asian markets are weak. Also, there is no news flow to move the market," said Neeraj Dewan, director of Quantum Securities.
"Inflation and advance tax numbers should provide some cues," he added.
Corporate advance tax payment figures for the quarter ending March are expected to trickle in later in the day, giving a brief idea about their report cards in the period.