When Donald Trump’s tariff announcement once rocked global markets, it brought back eerie memories of Black Monday—October 19, 1987—when Wall Street collapsed without warning. But India, too, has seen its fair share of stock market disasters that left investors in shock and portfolios in tatters.
Let’s rewind to 1992, when the Harshad Mehta scam blew the lid off India’s booming markets. A ₹4,000 crore fraud involving government securities led to a massive 12.7% single-day crash, wiping out ₹1 lakh crore in market value. It forced a complete overhaul of India’s financial system and gave SEBI more teeth.
Then came the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, triggered by Thailand’s currency devaluation. It had a domino effect, pushing the Sensex down 28% from 4,600 to 3,300. It took nearly a year for markets to recover.
By 2000, tech stocks had gone wild—until they didn’t. The Dot-Com Bubble Burst saw the Sensex nosedive 43% from 5,937 to 3,404, leaving investors burned by what was once the future.
In 2001, another con shook Dalal Street. Ketan Parekh’s scam, combined with global jitters and the Gujarat earthquake, led to a 4.13% fall on March 2. Fear ruled the market yet again.
Politics played villain in 2004. When the NDA unexpectedly lost the general election, the Sensex tanked 11.1% in a single day. Circuit breakers had to kick in to stop the bleeding.
Fast forward to 2008—the Global Financial Crisis hit hard. Lehman Brothers collapsed, and with it, global confidence. India’s Sensex fell 1,408 points in a day and nearly 60% over the months, one of the darkest bear phases ever.
And finally, COVID-19. On March 23, 2020, as India locked down, the Sensex crashed 3,935 points, or 13.2%, in its steepest single-day fall ever. Panic gripped investors—but policy support helped markets bounce back.
These crashes shaped investor behavior and regulatory frameworks for years to come.
