Stock Market Sell-Off: Nifty, Sensex see worst start to the year in a decade

India's equity markets continue to witness selling pressure with the Nifty 50 index witnessing the worst start to the new year in a decade.

The Nifty 50 index has declined 2.5% so far in the first eight sessions of the new year and this is turning out to be the third straight year of the market witnessing a negative start to the calendar year.

From the January 2 peak, the BSE-listed companies have lost a market capitalization of close to ₹20 lakh crore, while on a year-to-date basis, the loss comes up to ₹15 lakh crore.

30 out of the 50 stocks on the index has delivered negative returns so far at the start of the year. ITC is the top loser among the Nifty 50 constituents and its 15% drop has taken the stock to multi-year lows.

Apart from ITC, shares of Reliance Industries have declined 7%, while those of Trent and HDFC Bank have declined 6% each. HDFC Bank also witnessed its worst week since January 2024, losing over ₹1 lakh crore in market cap in the process.

The Nifty also features among the worst performing markets in 2025, with just 5% returns in US Dollar terms, compared to the other peers of the world, which gained between 20% to as high as 70%.