Mid- and small-cap indices drop over 4% amid market crash; Nifty Midcap 100 down 13% in 2026

The mid-cap and small-cap stocks came under selling pressure on Monday, March 23, amid weak market sentiment. During intraday trade, the broader market underperformed the benchmark indices, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 slipping 4.16% and 4.6%, respectively.

Over the last week, the Nifty Midcap 100 index has declined 3.1%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 has slipped 4.3%.

The SENSEX declined as much as 2.64% to an intra-day low of 72,558.44. Meanwhile, the NIFTY50 reached the session’s low of 22,471.25.

The equity benchmark indices, SENSEX and NIFTY50, continued their downward trend during Monday’s afternoon session as the US-Iran conflict in West Asia entered the fourth week—making investors worried. A weakening rupee and continued foreign fund outflows weighed on sentiment.

The benchmark indices posted their worst monthly performance exactly six years after the headline indices clocked their worst monthly performance on record when COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns were announced across the country.

The selloff in the Indian equity markets began at the start of this month, which was triggered after the United States and Israel attacked Iran. Iran responded by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, a key route through which more than 20% of global crude oil is transported, and attacking US military bases and strategically important reserves in the Gulf region, leading to a spike in crude oil prices.

Mid-cap stocks

Opening at the 54,242.40 level, the NIFTY Midcap 100 index touched a low of 52,573.55 during the intraday period on Monday. The index has tumbled 12.65% since the beginning of 2026.

Except for two stocks on the Nifty Midcap 100, all the scrips were trading in red on Monday.

Godfrey Phillips India (-7.41%), SAIL (-7.4%), Bharat Dynamics (-7.34%), GMR Airports (-6.69%) and Muthoot Finance (-6.61%). Adani Total Gas (-6.47%) and NMDC (-6.19%) were the biggest laggards on the index.

Paytm operator One 97 Communications (-6.18%), ITC Hotels (-6.17%), Vodafone Idea (-5.89%), Torrent Pharma (-5.8%), RVNL (-5.58%), AU Small Finance Bank (-5.45%) and Aditya Birla Capital (-5.38%) were the other big losers on the index.

Small-cap stocks

The Nifty Smallcap 100 index opened at 15,565.30 on Monday and slipped to an intraday low of 14,986. By the afternoon session, except for Trident (2.85%), all the stocks on the index were trading in the red.

Brainbees Solutions (-11.81%), Hindustan Copper (-7.93%), Jindal Saw (-7.9%), BLS International Services (-7.77%), Tejas Network (-7.43%), and Inox Wind (-7.39%) were the top losers on the index.

Further, Reliance Power (-6.94%), Bandhan Bank (-6.87%), Capri Global Capital (-6.81%), BEML (-6.77%) and Amber Enterprises India (-6.61%) and Wockhardt (-6.34%).