Stock Market Crash: Akhilesh Warns of Recession

Lucknow, Apr 7 (PTI) Stock market investors losing Rs 19 lakh crore in a day is an indication of a great recession for the Indian economy, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday as the US reciprocal tariff caused sharp plunges in the bourses.

He accused the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre of "emptying" people's pockets through inflation, corruption, and now by the "great collapse" of share markets.

In a post in Hindi on X addressing stock market investors, Yadav said, "The loss of almost Rs 19 lakh crore in the stock market in a day is an indication of a great recession for the Indian economy."

"The BJP government has emptied the pockets of the citizens not only by inflation and corruption but also through the great collapse of the share market," he said.

Yadav urged the public to remember that "these were the same people who, while holding constitutional posts, had lured the common people to invest in shares in an illegal manner".

The heartless middlemen, who earn money from every purchase and sale of shares do not have even an iota of sympathy for the investors."

"We had cautioned earlier and today we are warning again that common investors, especially the middle class and the youth, should not fall prey to superficial greed. They should be patient and take care of their hard-earned money," the SP chief said on X.

Stock markets crumbled on Monday with benchmark Sensex sinking by 2,226.79 points – its steepest single-day decline in 10 months – as a global market carnage following US President Donald Trump's tariff hikes and retaliation from China fanned fears of economic slowdown.

The 30-share BSE Sensex crashed 2,226.79 points or 2.95 per cent to settle at 73,137.90, recording its third day of decline. During the day, the index slumped 3,939.68 points or 5.22 per cent to 71,425.01.

The NSE Nifty tumbled 742.85 points or 3.24 per cent to settle at 22,161.60. Intra-day, the benchmark dropped 1,160.8 points or 5.06 per cent to 21,743.65.

All Sensex shares, except for Hindustan Unilever, ended with losses. Tata Steel fell the most by 7.33 per cent followed by Larsen & Toubro which cracked 5.78 per cent.

In Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tanked more than 13 per cent, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 plunged nearly 8 per cent, the Shanghai SSE Composite index dropped over 7 per cent and South Korea's Kospi sank over 5 per cent.

European markets too came under heavy selling pressure and were trading with up to a 6 per cent decline.

US markets ended sharply lower on Friday. The S&P 500 dropped 5.97 per cent, the Nasdaq composite slumped 5.82 per cent and the Dow tumbled 5.50 per cent on Friday.