'This bear market is 100% local': Market guru Shankar Sharma warns of India’s economic struggle

Market guru Shankar Sharma has issued a stark warning about India’s economic downturn, calling the current bear market a “100% local” issue that must be solved without global intervention. Drawing parallels with past crises, he noted that while previous downturns—like the 1992 Harshad Mehta scam, the 2000 dot-com crash, the 2008 global financial crisis, and the 2020 COVID crash—saw coordinated global recoveries, India’s current struggles are uniquely domestic.

“We have had 4 major Bear Markets in India since 1990: '92: Harshad. 2000: Dotcom. 2008: GFC. 2020: COVID,” Sharma stated in a post on X. “The market recovered fairly quickly in 3 except in HM mandi. Why? Because that was a local bear market. Others were global, hence, coordinated moves happened by all CBs. HM Mandi lasted ~10 years. Because it was our local problem, so had to be dealt by ourselves.”

He warned that India now faces a similar challenge, stressing that the country must find its own solutions to recover. However, he expressed skepticism about the current policy measures, calling them inadequate. “This current Bear Market we have is 100% local. We need to find our own bullets to come out of this. And if 0.25% rate cut & Rs. 800/ per Capita stimulus, count as bullets, God save us.”

Sharma’s remarks come as the BSE Sensex continued its downward trend on Tuesday, falling 96 points to close below the 73,000 mark amid global trade war tensions and persistent foreign fund outflows. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms, however, rose by over ₹1.06 lakh crore to ₹3,85,07,568.89 crore ($4.41 trillion).

While some analysts pointed to a selective buying trend limiting the downside, concerns over escalating US tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China have intensified worries about financial instability. “Weak global cues continue to weigh on sentiment, but selective buying is limiting the downside,” said Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities, highlighted that the Nifty index had fallen for the tenth consecutive session, marking its longest losing streak in nearly three decades. “Out of the last 19 trading sessions, only one session has ended in positive territory,” he noted.

With FIIs offloading equities worth ₹4,788.29 crore on Monday and oil prices declining, market watchers remain uncertain about India’s near-term recovery.