Reset.com

India’s digital bull run has just begun. This is an early stumble from which it will recover to emerge as the most vibrant of digital ecosystems in the world

- UDAYAN MUKHERJEE

Year 2022 has begun with an intent on washing away the sins of the dazzling post-Covid-19 bull run. While major market indices such as the Dow Jones or the Nifty have barely flinched so far, the pain is searing in the digital end of the spectrum where the biggest valuation excesses exist. This reset had to happen; only the trigger was in question. The US Federal Reserve has provided the market with an excuse to blow away the accumulated froth and bring these high-flyers down to earth. India has merely mirrored the trend.

The bloodbath brings back memories of the brutal technology meltdown at the turn of the century. Post-Covid-19 poster boys such as Zoom Video and PayPal have lost over 70 per cent of their market value, Netflix and the mighty Meta-Facebook have halved and even Tesla is down a third from its peak. It’s a carnage.

Back home, the recently listed digital unicorns which investors couldn’t get enough of just last year, are in the middle of a grand walloping. Zomato and Nykaa have halved from their peaks, as has Policybazaar, while Paytm is the leader of the fall with a 60 per cent crash. Many old-timers in the market are probably having a good laugh as these newbies and their admirers get their comeuppance.