Rs 3.6 Lakh Crore Of Investors Wealth Wiped Out In 1 Day As Sensex, Nifty Crashed; Trump's Tariff Eyed

The Indian Stock Market started the financial year 2025-26 on a weak note as Donald Trump's trade tariff countdown overshadowed market sentiments on Tuesday. The benchmark indices of NSE and BSE recorded sharp decline today wiping off nearly Rs 3.6 lakh crore of investors' wealth today.

Nifty 50 fell nearly 1.5% to end Tuesday's trading session below 23,200 whereas BSE Sensex fell 1,390.41 points to end the day at 76024 points. HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Shriram Finance, Bharat Eectronics, emerged as the major laggards. Whereas, Bajaj Auto, Jio Financial, HDFC Life emerged as the top gainers today.

PSU Banks continued to remain weak throughout the session as Punjab & Sind Bank, UCO Bank witnessed sharp decline in their stocks on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea share price surged nearly 20% to hit upper circuit after the government announced to increase its stake in the telecom firm to 51%. Auto and IT stocks remained under pressure as the trade tariffs, announced by United States President Donald Trump, will come into effect from Wednesday, ie 2 April.

"Indian equities faced sharp declines on the first trading session of FY26, with the Nifty tumbling 1.5% to close at 23,165, amid heightened concerns over US President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariff plans, which take effect from April 2nd," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Decline in stock market capitalisation

The total capitalisation of top 10 companies at the BSE declined from Rs 93 lakh crore to Rs 91.4 lakh crore. Whereas, the total market capitalisation declined by Rs 3.6 lakh crore from 413 lakh crore on 28 March to 410 lakh crore on Tuesday, 1 April.
The decline in stock market capitalisation was led by falling stocks of IT, financials, banks, realtu, and consumer durables. Weaker market sentiment also impacted broader market's performance today.
"Broader markets also ended lower, as the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices dropped 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively. Sectoral indices saw widespread losses, barring Nifty Media and Oil & Gas. Nifty Realty was the worst performer, falling 3.1%, as real estate stocks came under pressure after the Maharashtra government hiked the "ready reckoner" rates for FY26," noted Khemka adding that the volatility is likely to remain elevated in coming days with global trade policies in focus.

Donald Trump Tariff to come into effect from 2 April

Donald Trump has called 2 April, the date to implement trade tariffs, as 'Liberation Day'. Earlier, the United States president had announced a 25% tariff on auto parts and cars imported in the country. The announcement sent jitters across the stocks of Indian automobile manufacturers including Tata Motors and Samvardhana Motherson.
Apart from taxes on automobiles, Donald Trump has also promised that he will roll out a set of tariffs, and taxes on imports from other countries. He has repeatedly claimed that the move would free the US from a relianceon foreign goods. To make this happen, Donald Trump has announced to impose 'reciprocal' tariffs to match the duties that other countries has charged on the US products. However, all the details about Trump tariffs are yet to be known and are likely to come out on 2 April.