Benchmark indices may have given over 100 percent return in the past decade, but some stocks failed to take advantage of the bull run. They actually fell up to 99 percent in 10 years.
NSE
Stocks such as Reliance Communications, Cox & Kings, JP Associates, MMTC, Reliance Capital, Reliance Infra, Suzlon Energy, CG Power destroyed over 95 percent investor wealth in 10 years. To put their fall in perspective, if you had invested Rs 1 lakh in these stocks in 2010, you would now be left with only Rs 5,000.
What explains their steep fall? Plenty of reasons actually: loan defaults, rating downgrades, selling of pledged shares, rising debt, and poor earnings.
Sample Reliance Communications. The company lost 99 percent of investor wealth in the past year, depleting a Rs 1 lakh investment to just Rs 1,000. The stock, which traded around Rs 183 in 2010, is now hovering Rs 0.85.
Wireless operator Reliance Communications is wading through insolvency proceedings to repay debt. The stock's crash became inevitable after competition in the telecom sector intensified, it struggled to repay loans and lost a bruising legal battle with Swedish telecom operator Ericsson.
Cox & Kings was another major loser in the last decade, plunging 99 percent. The stock price has wilted from around Rs 220 in 2010 to Rs 1.5 in 2020 amid recurring default and rise in pledged shares.
JP Associates, MMTC, and Reliance Capital shed 98 percent each.
Suzlon Energy has been another thorn for investors, with the stock destroying 96 percent of their wealth in the past 10 years. The stock, which traded at around Rs 103 in 2010, has dropped to Rs 3 after a series of payment defaults. According to analysts, the stock is weak on fundamental as well as technical aspects.
CG Power crashed 95 percent after the risk and audit committee of the company raised several red flags regarding alleged misappropriation of funds and misrepresentation of financial statements. The audit committee further unearthed some suspect, unauthorised and undisclosed transactions that are prima facie prejudicial to the interests of the company and its stakeholders.
The stock is expected to remain under pressure given the concerns around the sale of its loss-making international business, high debt and pledge as well as corporate governance issues.
Other losers in this list are Jain Irrigation, Shree Renuka Sugars, Indian Overseas Bank, IFCI, central Bank of India, BHEL, Allahabad Bank, and Andhra Bank, which are down between 85 percent and 95 percent.