Rakesh Jhunjhunwala loses Rs 603 cr after Thursday’s market plunge erodes investor wealth of over Rs 11 lakh cr

As the equity benchmarks suffered their biggest ever one-day plunge on Thursday after the world health body declared coronavirus a pandemic, the free-fall of the market in the chaos inflicted heavy loss on the investors. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, a billionaire investor and trader, reportedly lost about Rs 603 crore from Tata Group’s arm Titan Company in just one trading session, said a report in Financial Express. According to the data posted on Titan Company’s website, Jhunjhunwala and his wife, Rekha have a combined stake of 6.69 percent stake as of December 2019. Jhunjhunwala alone holds 5.27 percent share in the Tata subsidiary. [caption id=“attachment_2036147” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Rakesh Jhunjhunwala. Reuters[/caption] Jhunjhunwala’s investment in Titan, based on the shareholding pattern in the company, stood at Rs 7,593 crore after the firm’s profit rose 12.9 percent in the December quarter, the report said. The couple jointly own nearly 6 crore shares in the company, said the data on the website. Titan Company shares closed on BSE at Rs 1078.20 per piece lower by 9.31 percent on Thursday. On Thursday, investor wealth worth over Rs 11 lakh crore was wiped off as stocks crashed amid a global equity selloff after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. The carnage on Dalal Street eroded investor wealth worth Rs 11,27,160.65 crore, taking the total market capitalisation (m-cap) to Rs 1,25,86,398.07 crore on the BSE. After nosediving over 3,204.30 points on across-the-board selling, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 2,919.26 points or 8.18 percent lower at 32,778.14. Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty gave up the 9,600 level, slumping 868.25 points or 8.30 percent to close at 9,590.15. The m-cap of BSE-listed companies stood at Rs 1,37,13,558.72 crore at the end of trading on Wednesday. On a net basis, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,515.38 crore on Wednesday, data available with stock exchanges showed. On the BSE, 2,243 scrips declined, while 224 advanced and 106 remained unchanged. Indian equity benchmarks suffered their biggest ever one-day plunge to crash into bear territory as the coronavirus pandemic left a trail of red across global financial markets. This was the biggest drop for the benchmarks in absolute terms, eclipsing their previous record one-day fall on Monday (9 March). The markets have now entered bear territory — that is more than 20 percent down from a recent high. The Sensex and Nifty, which had hit their lifetime closing highs on 14 January this year, closed at more than two-and-half-year lows on Thursday. The equity selloff intensified after the WHO, late Wednesday night, termed the new coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic, and expressed deep concern over the “alarming levels of inaction”. — With PTI inputs