Bulls Bleeding: 1865-2025; Which Is The Biggest Crash In Sensex And Nifty - History Of Bears!

Stock Market Crash History: The Indian stock market opened to a new bloodbath on the morning of Monday, April 7, 2025. In the opening bell, investors emerged into a frenzy of selling with all indices in deep red. There is RED everywhere, except for India's volatility index, which skyrocketed by an eye-bulging 51%. In a matter of minutes, the Sensex crashed by 3,939.68 points, or 5.27%, to hit an intraday low of 71,425.01, and the Nifty 50 nosedived by 1,160.8 points, or 5.06% to touch an intraday low of 21,743.65. Is this the biggest crash in the Indian stock market's history?

Sensex and Nifty have had a fair share of crashes over time. The first one recorded in books was the crash of 1865, tracing all the way back to 2025. However, the fall of April 7, 2025, isn't the biggest crash suffered by Sensex and Nifty.

Why the Indian Stock Market Crashed On April 7?

The Indian stock market crashed because of the bearish trend in global cues. Last week, Wall Street witnessed one of its worst trading days on April 4th, with Dow Jones down 2,231.07 points to 38,314.86. Dow Jones is now merely 653.31 points away from hitting its 1-year low of 37,611.56. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 declined by 5.97% to 5,074.08, marking its biggest drop since March 2020, the year of the first wave of Covid-19. The S&P 500 has dropped by over 17% from its highs. Coming to Nasdaq, the tech-heavy index plunged by 5.8% on Friday, extending its losses of 6% on April 3 while also recording over a 22% decline from December peak levels.

The meltdown of Wall Street was enough to send Asian cues into jitters for Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 has crashed by 8%, South Korea's KOSPI declined by 5%. Interestingly, the Chinese indexes led the bearish bandwagon with Hang Seng down nearly 11% and mainland CSI 300 lower by 6.3%. That being said, Chinese stocks have recorded their worst decline since the 2008 recession.

Sensex and Nifty are currently on a three-day losing streak, with Monday becoming its worst single-day performance of 2025 as of now. From April 3rd to April 7th, Sensex plummeted by 5,167.5 points and Nifty toppled by 1,573.95 points. The last green mark on benchmarks was 76,617.44 and 23,332.35, and that was on April 2nd.

The problem of current time? At the top of the list, the root cause of the bearish trend is trade war tensions and recession concerns because of Donald Trump's so-called tariffs and reciprocal tariffs on imported products. His 'Make America Great Again' agenda is costing the global economy and global market extremely; whether it's a temporary shock or not, it will be keenly watched.

SBI Securities in its market commentary said, "Global cues look even more ugly as most Asian markets have opened with massive cuts of 6-10% post-China retaliating with 34% tariff on US imports. US futures too are indicating further correction of more than 2%."

Trump has announced a 26% reciprocal tariff for India, while US Fed Chair Jerome Powell has signaled inflationary pressure ahead due to the 47th President's tariff.

The brokerage highlighted that US Fed Chair Jerome Powell, in a speech on Friday, indicated that inflation in the near term could rise in the USA on the back of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. The Fed is in no hurry to cut interest rates while President Trump is demanding lower interest rates.

That being said, is it the worst market crash in history for Sensex and Nifty?

It needs to be noted that the Indian stock market has been in sharp selling pressure since September 2024, after Sensex and Nifty peak levels of 85,978.25 and 26,277.35. Picking up from 2024 closing, Sensex and Nifty ended January and February 2025 also on a bearish note, with the exception of a 5-6% jump in March 2025 due to the financial closing year.

1. 2024 Crash: From October 2024 to December 2024, Sensex dropped by about 10,000 points or 11.79%. Nifty plunged by 12.38% in those four months. Notably, after the 2024 general election, Nifty crashed by 1,380 points, or 5.93%, from June 3-4.

2. 2020 Crash: The Covid-19 pandemic had kept Sensex and Nifty on the edge. There were momentary falls, like Sensex losing 1,448 points on February 28 and further falling by 1,000 points on March 4th and 6th, due to global tensions. Later on, Sensex dropped by 2,713.41 points (around 8%), while Nifty also erased 9,200 levels on March 16. But its worst single-day decline arrived on March 23, 2020, when the Sensex nosedived by 3,934.72 points (13.15%) and the Nifty plunged 1,135 points (12.98%) on March 23, as the Covid-19 lockdown triggered recession fears.

3. 2015 Crash: On August 24, 2015, the Sensex tumbled by 1,624 points, and the Nifty dived by 490 points, as fears of economic slowdown in China and devaluation of the Yuan had sent Asian markets into a panic zone. Shanghai also crashed that time by nearly 9%.

4. 2008 Crash: This year was one of the biggest market rout moments globally due to the recession after the Lehman Brothers crisis.

On January 21st, 2008, the Sensex plummeted by 1,408 points to 17,605, which forced a shutdown at 2.30 pm that day due to a technical snag. It was called a Black Monday as well. In the same month, Sensex saw its biggest intraday fall of 2,273 points that time after it hit a low of 15,332. Trading was suspended on January 22 for an hour as well on BSE, within minutes of opening, because the benchmark Sensex crossed its circuit limit of 10%.

5. 2007 Crash: The year 2007 was filled with a roller coaster ride due to the onset of recession. In this year, Sensex and Nifty experienced five big falls.

- On April 2, the Sensex fell 617 points, as RBI decided to hike the cash reserve ratio and repo rate during that time.

- After falling massively on August 1 and 16th, Sensex and Nifty recorded a 1,428-point and 208-point decline on October 18 due to sharp selling.

- Sensex and Nifty also recorded key notable falls on November 21st and December 17th.

6. 2004 Crash: In percentage terms, BSE Sensex nosedived by 15.52% on May 17, 2004, making it the biggest decline in its history. Notified also as Black Monday, the market crash was after an unexpected defeat of the NDA government, with Congress surprising with a win after electoral calculations, which also marked the exit of Vajpayee years.

7. 1992 Crash: BSE Sensex witnessed a crash of 12.77% on April 28, 1992, after investors lost confidence due to Harshad Mehta scam. Mehta was reportedly involved in scam of securities worth Rs 30,000 crore in 1992 through allegedly market manipulation. He was declared a fraudster.

8. 1991 Crash: BSE and NSE witnessed a couple of crashes and booms this year due to scams allegedly carried out by big players like Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh. Global factors also added to the woes.

9. 1982 Crash: BSE had to be shut down for three consecutive days during the 1982 period after a bear cartel of Bengal carried out short selling of shares, especially of Reliance. As per Wikipedia, about 1.10 lakh shares were short-sold.

10. 1865 Crash: As per reports, the Indian market witnessed its first-ever crash in 1865, even when BSE was not formed. At that time, Gujaratis and Parsis were reportedly known to trade shares at the junction of Rampart Row and Meadows Street. As per Wikipedia, in the preceding years, speculation about the results of the American Civil War had led to irrational increases in stocks of new Indian companies.

For instance, the shares of Back Bay Reclamation touched Rs. 50,000 at a face value of Rs 5,000, while Bank of Baroda hit an unrealistic Rs. 29,000,050 at a face value of Rs 50,000,000.

Money made from cotton was pumped into the stock market driving prices of stocks higher. Banks loaned money to speculators further fueling the bull run and wealthy merchants like Premchand Roychand dispensed advice that led to ordinary people placing their bets on shares, Wikipedia recorded.

Disclaimer: The write-up is just for information purposes, and is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold. We have not done fundamental or technical analysis and have no opinion on article mentioned. Neither, the author nor Greynium Information Technologies should be held liable for any losses. Please consult a professional advisor.