As markets crash, investors get jitters

Mumbai: It's not just investment bankers and traders who have been hit by the financial crisis. In India, the profile of investors includes the retired, the housewives and the middle class. Many have just seen their savings wiped out.

The torrid financial wave has hit like a tsunami. Global markets seeing red and world's major banks are in a credit crisis. India’s Sensex tumbled to less than 11,000 points.

Though some strong hearted and well-stocked investors can weather the storm, for some small time investors like Murli Wadhwani, it has been a living nightmare.

"I've lost almost everything. I'm a retired person. Even my mutual funds have lost it's NFO. Now what do I do?" asked a perturbed Wadhwani.

Initially, the markets had seemed a promising place to park his life's savings, but Wadhwani stands converted now.

“People like me who've worked for 35 years and invested the same have lost all our savings. All that I have left is my house and I can't sell that, now can I?” asked Wadhwani. He also added that the US market sentiments were being replayed into the Indian scenario with all its negativity.

The US meltdown too is claiming Indian lives. In Los Angeles, investor Karthik Rajaram, a man of Indian origins killed his three sons, his wife and his mother in law last week, before killing himself reportedly over his losses in the stock market crash.

The 45-year-old American of Indian origins had initially made £900,000 from his small stake in an internet company floated on the London Stock Exchange. With markets collapsing, share prices fell and Rajaram could not handle the monetary loss.

“Most investors are in depression. No one has any certainty of the market. Each day it's sliding further by four to five per cent,” said Ram Udasi, another investor.

Even housewives and women who dabble in shares are worried, as crsis sees no gender.

“More than negative sentiment, it is the fear and insecurity gripping the market. Most people are not sure of what direction the markets would move. They wonder if markets will remain this way or is there more downward trend?” said Mini Chugh.

Experts say those playing the markets must be prepared to deal with this downward trend. Markets are not safely predictable and the key to survival is not just a keen market sense but a survival instinct.

“Investors should be prepared to climb down the corporate ladder, have high self esteem,” advises Psychiatrist Harish Shetty.

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