Stock Market Crash Today: Sensex Slides 1,000 Points, Massive Wealth Erosion in IT Sector

Indian Stock Market Crash News: Today, February 24, 2026, was nothing short of a nightmare for the Indian stock market. After a slight decline in early trading, the market collapsed like a house of cards. The Sensex slipped 1,068 points to close at 82,225, while the Nifty also fell sharply by 288 points to reach 25,424.

This massive sell-off wiped out investors’ wealth worth approximately ₹3 lakh crore in just a few hours. The main reasons for this market chaos are believed to be US President Donald Trump’s new tariff threats and the looming threat to the IT sector’s future due to artificial intelligence.

Today’s decline wasn’t due to a single factor, but rather a combination of global and domestic factors that shook investor confidence:

US President Donald Trump has once again hinted at a tough stance. He warned that countries that “play games” in trade agreements could face global tariffs of up to 15%. This news created a stir in global markets, impacting Indian exporters.

IT stocks were among the worst hit today. The launch of the ‘Cloud Code’ tool by Anthropic has raised fears that AI software will handle coding tasks in the future. This concern led to a 13% global drop in IBM shares, which also impacted Indian giants like Infosys and TCS.

Market volatility remained high today due to the monthly F&O expiry.

Furthermore, rising tensions between the US and Iran have pushed crude oil prices above ₹72, a major indicator of inflation for an import-dependent country like India.

Tech Mahindra was the biggest Nifty loser in today’s trading, falling nearly 6.6 percent. Following this, HCL Tech fell 6.1 percent, and Infosys fell 3.5 percent. Major stocks like TCS and Wipro also fell more than 3 percent, reaching near their 52-week lows. Banking and financial stocks also disappointed the market amid this widespread selling, leaving no room for recovery.

However, amid this market tsunami, a select few stocks showed strength. NTPC led the top gainers with a gain of 1.9 percent, while Coal India and JSW Steel also closed in the green, providing some relief to investors. Hindustan Unilever shares in the FMCG sector also saw a slight increase, but this gain proved insufficient to ease the heavy market pressure.

Due to today’s heavy selling, the total market cap of companies listed on the BSE fell to approximately ₹465 lakh crore, wiping out crores of rupees for investors in a single day. Furthermore, due to continued selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), the Indian rupee has weakened to 90.95 against the dollar. This weakening of the rupee has created fear among foreign investors, raising the possibility of further outflows in the coming days.