The market is in a panic due to the 'red mark'! The March sell-off dealt investors a blow of ₹51 lakh crore
While the Sensex fell by more than 4 percent for two consecutive days, the BSE's main index, the Sensex, declined by approximately 11.50 percent in March. Experts believe the significant decline in the stock market is due to the ongoing conflict in West Asia, which shows no signs of abating, and which has led to a sharp rise in crude oil prices.
Due to two days of sharp declines in the stock market, equity investors have lost ₹18.60 lakh crore. If we consider this loss for the entire month of March, it has exceeded ₹51 lakh crore.
Notably, while the Sensex fell by more than 4 percent for two consecutive days, the BSE's main index, the Sensex, has declined by approximately 11.50 percent in March.
Experts believe that the significant decline in the stock market is due to the ongoing conflict in West Asia,
which shows no signs of abating, leading to a sharp rise in crude oil prices. Weak global trends and the continued outflow of foreign funds have also shaken investor confidence, leading to a significant sell-off in the stock market.
Market crashes 11.50%, 51 lakh crore wiped out
Over the past two trading sessions, the BSE benchmark Sensex has fallen 3,325.9 points, or 4.41 percent.
In March, the Sensex has lost 9,339.64 points, or 11.48 percent. On Monday, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex fell 1,635.67 points, or 2.22 percent, to close at 71,947.55.
As investors shied away from riskier assets, the market capitalization of BSE-listed companies fell by ₹18,60,662.29 crore in two days to ₹4,12,41,172.45 crore (USD 4.36 trillion), compared to ₹51,09,498.82 crore in March.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, InterGlobe Aviation, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the biggest losers.
Power Grid, on the other hand, was the only company whose shares saw gains. A total of 3,563 shares declined on the BSE, while 876 advanced and 154 remained unchanged.
Sectorally, all indices closed in the red. Auto, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Capital Goods, Realty, Private Banks and PSU Banks fell in the range of 2-4 percent. BSE PSU Bank fell the most by 4.60 percent, followed by MidSmall Private Banks Quality Tilt (3.96 percent), Bankex (3.80 percent),
Financial Services (3.46 percent), Private Banks (3.43 percent), BSE Top 10 Banks (3.40 percent), Telecommunication (3.09 percent) and Realty (3.03 percent).
increase in crude oil prices
Siddharth Khemka, Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd., said that the stock market witnessed another day of sharp declines. Uncertainty continues to cloud market sentiment.
Rising tensions in West Asia are weighing on markets, as the ongoing US-Israeli conflict with Iran enters its fifth week and spreads across the region. Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 2.18 percent to USD 115.1 per barrel.
Khemka further noted that March 2026 saw massive collective selling by FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors), with funds outflows of over ₹1 lakh crore. This reflects persistent global risk-aversion and the pressure on domestic equities.
Foreign investors also became the reason
Pabitro Mukherjee, Associate Vice President, Technical Research, Bajaj Broking, said that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Indian equities unprecedentedly during March 2026, marking one of the largest monthly capital outflows in recent history.