Sensex falls over 8,400 points since first coronavirus case in India

India reported its first confirmed case of coronavirus on 30 January. The victim was a student who travelled from Wuhan, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Sensex on that day ended at 40,913 level after losing 284 points and Rs 1.6 lakh crore in market cap.

The market capitilisation of BSE stood at Rs 157.6 lakh crore on 30 January. A little over a month since then, the market capitalisation of BSE now stands at Rs 125.3 lakh crore. Investor wealth has declined Rs 32.3 lakh crore during the period. To put it into perspective, Rs 32.3 lakh is more than double of Indian government's tax revenue (Rs 15 lakh crore) during FY20 and near 5 times the market capitalisation of India's most valuable listed company Reliance Industries (Rs 6.73 lakh crore).

In points term, Sensex has fallen from 40,913 on 30 January to 32,493 on 12 March. An erosion of 8,420 points or 20.6 per cent.

It's also important to note that on 1 February, the Union Budget was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. During that day Sensex tanked 1,092 points as the budget failed to provide any major benefit to industries. That was the beginning of the trend.

Since the first case of coronavirus in India, Sensex has fallen by more than 1,000 points on five separate trading sessions. In two of these trading sessions, Sensex fell by more than 2,000 points. On 9 March Sensex tanked 2467.4 points or 6.6% and on 12 March Sensex fell by 2,709 points or 7.6%. In the month of March alone investors have lost Rs 19 lakh crore.

These are the five trading sessions in which investors have suffered major losses:

These five sessions alone account for 95 per cent of the fall in Sensex since the first case in Kerala was identified by the Indian authorities. "The shock that coronavirus seems to have wrought on the world markets is unparalleled in recent history. The fact that it has gone on to effect mobility and social interaction has only amplified the sense of panic which is abundantly reflected in financial markets," said Siddharth Mehta, Founder & CIO, Bay Capital.

Till 12 March, the total coronavirus cases in India have risen to 73 and it has spread to 11 states/UTs in India.

Around the world, Coronavirus has spread to 124 countries with 1.27 lakh confirmed cases out of which 4,638 patients have died. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared COVID-19 as a pandemic.