Mumbai, Feb 25 :    Mumbai, Feb 25:  The market capitalisation of Wipro plunged a whopping Rs 13,734 crore today as the share was clobbered in an infotech selloff that sent the BSE sensex tumbling 187.09 points to 5623.08 over its previous finish of 5810.07 points. Marketmen failed to understand the reason why investors dumped a company that had notched up a record market cap of Rs 2,04,209.31 crore only on February 18. Today, as the scrip lost the maximum permissible Rs 599.50 and remained locked in the lower-end circuit filter for most of the session, its market cap stood diluted by eight per cent at Rs 1,57,956.43 crore. 'Strange are the ways of the market,' said a dealer, unable to fathom the logic behind the abrupt loss of interest in the scrip. However, there were a few who said part of the losses could be attributed to the illiquid nature of the share. The reasons for the hammering of software scrips in general were clearer. Many dealers said comments by Infosys chairman N R Narayana murthy and managing director Nandan Nilekani that software firms were ready to pay taxes triggered the selloff. 'When we are making money hand over fists, the government need not forego a formidable source of taxes,' Narayana Murthy told a TV channel this morning. The other reason could be the caution exercised by speculators ahead of the budget, even though badla rates were quoted lower between 50 and 55 per cent at the close of settlement on the Calcutta Stock Exchange on Thursday evening. Earlier in the day, the 30-scrip index opened on a bullish note at 5840.25 but later met with resistance due to selling pressure and dipped to close at the day's low of 5623.08 as against Thursday's finish of 5810.17, down 187.09 points or 3.22 per cent. The BSE-100 index slumped 171.71 points to 3416.46 from its previous close of 3588.17.