Sensex's 3,000-pt crash leaves investors poorer by Rs 10 lakh crore

Investors’ wealth on Dalal Street was wiped off by another Rs 10 lakh crore in Monday’s trade as equity markets witnessed another day of sharp fall, with 30-pack Sensex hitting 10% lower circuit limit amid rising coronavirus cases in the country.

The BSE benchmark plummeted 10 per cent or 2,991.85 points to 26,924. Market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms retreated to Rs 105.91 lakh crore from Rs 116.09 lakh crore.

As an automatic mechanism to freefall in the market, when an index slips 10 per cent before 1 pm, trading is halted on stock exchanges for 45 minutes.


All the 30 components in the Sensex pack traded deep in the red. Axis Bank dropped the most at 20 per cent. It was followed by ICICI Bank (down 15 per cent), IndusInd Bank (down 15 per cent) and Bajaj Finance (down 14 per cent).

Sectorwise, the BSE Bankex and Realty plunged 13 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively. Auto, Telecom, Power and rest other indices were down between 5-10 per cent.

As the Covid-19 cases increased in the country, the government decided to lock down 75 districts to break the chain of transmission.

With an objective to curb volatility in the market, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday announced revising market wide position limit for stocks in the derivatives segment, flexing dynamic price bands and other measures for one month starting from March 23.

These steps would limit short selling of shares as well as reduce volatility in individual stocks.

Stock exchanges and regulatory officials, however, dismissed suggestions about curtailment of trading hours in wake of the pandemic.