Sensex falls 1,800 pts in 5 days; Nifty below 25k; what spooked investors?

Sensex in the last five sessions lost 1,854 points or 2.2 per cent, and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty50 slipped 533 points or 2.1 per cent

Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell for the fifth consecutive day on Thursday, September 25, 2025. Sensex in the last five sessions has lost 1,854 points or 2.2 per cent, and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty50 has slipped 533 points or 2.1 per cent. 

 

In the intra-day trade, Sensex fell 622.74 points or 0.76 per cent to day’s low at 81,092.89 and Nifty50 tanked 178.6 points or 0.71 per cent to day’s low at 24,878.3. The benchmark index Sensex closed 555.95 points or 0.68 per cent lower at 81,159.68 and Nifty settled at 24,890.85, down 166.05 points or 0.66 per cent. 

 

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On BSE, Trent, Power Grid, Asian Paints, TCS and Tata Motors were among the top drags, while BEL, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank were the only top gainers. 

 

In the broader market, Nifty MidCap 100 slipped 0.64 per cent and Nifty SmallCap 0.57 per cent. On the sectoral front, barring Nifty Metal (up 0.22 per cent), all indices traded in red. 

Analysts attribute the fall in Sensex and Nifty to the following:

Liquidity constraints: 

Persistent selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) is adding pressure to the market and is raising liquidity constraints, according to G Chokkalingam, founder, Equinomics Research Pvt Ltd.

 

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have sold Indian equities worth ₹13,491.29 crore in the last four trading sessions since September 19, 2025. In September, the Indian market has seen a foreign outflow of ₹11,582 crore worth of equities, while year-to-date (Y-T-D), the ₹1,42,217 crore worth of equities have been sold by foreign investors.  

 

Additionally, as many initial public offerings (IPO) are lined up, Chokkalingam reckoned that investors are conserving money for them. 

 

In the mainboard category, 14 IPOs will be open for investors to subscribe till September 30, 2025. Some names include: Epack Prefab Technologies Ltd. IPO, BMW Ventures Ltd. IPO, Jain Resource Recycling Ltd., IPO, and others. 

US H-1B visa reforms' impact on the market and IT stocks

The Trump administration last week unveiled a sweeping change to the highly after H-1B visa programme. US President Donald Trump signed an executive order raising the H-1B application fee to $100,000, from the earlier $2,000–5,000. The White House clarified it will be a one-time payment, effective September 21, potentially pressuring margins of Indian outsourcers.

 

“H1-B visa reforms have, by and large, been negative for the markets, especially for IT companies,” said Kranthi Bathini, equity strategist, WealthMills Securities. 

 

Since the announcement, Indian information technology (IT) stocks have been under pressure. Nifty IT has lost over 6 per cent in the last five trading sessions. Madhavi Arora, chief economist, Emkay Global Financial Services, believes that the visa reforms could disturb Indian IT exports, companies’ traditional models, pressurise project margins, disrupt Indian IT supply chains, and on-site projects.

US tariff concerns 

Trump levied an additional 25 per cent tariffs on India in August, overall tariffs imposed on New Delhi to 50 per cent. The US President imposed 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India, effective August 7 — the same day duties on around 70 other countries also took effect. He later doubled the tariffs due to New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil and weapons, giving a 21-day window to negotiate an agreement. However, a deal between India and the US has not yet been reached.

 

Amid the ongoing negotiations between India and the US, analysts believe investors are exercising caution as they don’t know how it will shape out. 

 

Rupee falling

Domestic currency was under pressure for the third session on Wednesday and traded near record lows. 

 

The domestic currency opened 2 paise higher at 88.73 against the dollar on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. In early deals, the currency fell back to 88.76, falling 3.68 per cent so far this year. 

 

“Even though the fall in the rupee is positive for exporters, it poses inflationary risk,” said Bathini.

Market suck in a range

Analysts believe that the Indian market is stuck in a range, as follows on buying is missing. 

 

The setup of the market right now is buy on dip and sell on rise. That is the reason the market has been languishing around the 25,000 level. But as and when Nifty is able to maintain the 25,000 level, the trajectory of the market in the medium to short term is positive,” said Bathini.