The BSE benchmark Sensex seems to be under-reporting the extent of pain gripping the broader market. Nearly a third of the BSE 500 companies (176 stocks) have lost all the gains they made since the Narendra Modi-led government took charge at the Centre on May 26 last year. And, more than 10 per cent (40 of 498 companies) have lost at least half their market value during the past 15 months.
The biggest losers have been infrastructure companies, metal makers, power generators, sugar companies, real estate developers and oil & gas companies, among others. The losses came at a time when, incidentally, infra and capital expenditure-related companies were supposed to be the biggest beneficiaries of the Modi government's infra spending push.