Indian investors lost money month-over-month in equities. When markets closed on August 13, the NSE benchmark Nifty 50 index was down 2.10 per cent in the past 31 days. The 30-pack BSE Sensex fell 2.37 per cent in the same period.
It is worth noting that these monthly losses factored in Wednesday’s rally, where the Nifty gained 131.95 points to settle at 24,619.35 and the Sensex moved up by 304.32 points to 80,539.91, recovering from recent slumps.
The Indian equities market opened on a positive note today, continuing Wednesday’s momentum. But the overall month-on-month dip cannot be ignored. In contrast, gold prices in India for 24 carat jumped by 2.55 per cent in the same period.
Last week, THE WEEK analysed the year-on-year gold vs equities growth as viable investment options… where we saw that the benchmark indices were flat in the past years and 24-carat gold surged by 44.8 per cent in the same time.
ALSO READ | Should you switch to gold or FD? Bad year for Sensex and Nifty 50 as Indian investors get zero returns
It was not just these two major indices that felt the pressure of geopolitics, FII selloff, forex fluctuations and constant uncertainty—midcaps and smallcaps suffered, too. Nifty Midcap Select (MIDCPNIFTY) index slid 2.51 per cent, while Nifty Smallcap 250 (SMALLCA250) slid by 5.19 per cent.
The period, which saw the Reserve Bank of India convene another monetary policy committee meeting to keep the policy rate as is, did not do any favours to the banking and financial sectors. They followed the normal market trend, with the Nifty Financial Services (FINNIFTY) index slumping 2.28 per cent and the Nifty Bank (BANKNIFTY) index falling by 2.77 per cent.
Major names in the Sensex failed to generate any profits. In fact, investors lost big on them over the course of the last 31-day period ending August 13 2025. India’s most valued listed firm, Reliance Industries, went on a 7.50 per cent slide. Lending major HDFC Bank somehow was more or less flat—but still down by 0.21 per cent. Adani Ports was down 7.75 per cent while Tata Motors slipped by 2.64 per cent.
India’s IT services majors Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys were not spared, either. TCS was down by 7.03 per cent month-on-month, while Infosys dipped by a massive 10.59 per cent when it closed on Wednesday.
With more and more new-age investors coming to the market, the question looms: Are equities a safe investment option anymore, or should they go back to the time-tested precious metal?
