Street storm damages portfolios of top investors

The conflict in West Asia is rippling through Dalal Street, triggering a correction in Indian equities and denting the portfolios of several marquee investors from Hemendra Kothari to Madhusudan Kela and Vijay Kedia.

- Mayur Bhalerao

A Mint analysis of shareholding data from Primeinfobase shows the value of holdings of many prominent investors has eroded by up to 22% between 31 December 2025 and 13 March 2026, as tensions involving the US, Israel and Iran unsettled global markets and pushed crude oil prices higher.

The analysis tracks investors holding more than 1% stake in listed companies with portfolio values exceeding 1,000 crore. To be sure, several investors may have significantly larger overall portfolios, as individual holdings below the 1% disclosure threshold are not reported publicly.

Though the Nifty climbed 257.70 points or 1.11% to end at 23,408.80 on Monday, benchmark indices have fallen about 8% since tensions in the Middle East escalated on 27 February.

The Nifty is now nearly 11% below its 2 January 2026 peak, meeting the technical definition of a market correction.

The weakness has been widespread. During the same period, the BSE LargeCap and MidCap indices declined nearly 8% each, while the BSE SmallCap index slipped about 7%, signalling that the sell-off extended beyond frontline stocks.