India, March 19 -- India's equity benchmarks are on track to register their worst fortnight since the covid-crash in March 2020 after foreign investors offloaded stocks at the fastest pace in 17 months in the first half of March.

On Thursday (19 March 2026), the 30-share S&P BSE Sensex fell as much as 2.86%, or 2,193.86 points, to an intraday low of 74,510.27 points, even as the wider NSE Nifty 50 shed 2.90%.

The foreign portfolio investors have pulled Rs.52,704 crore ($5.65 billion) from the market in the fortnight, according to data with National Securities Depository Ltd. The aggressive exodus dragged the Nifty 50 down 8.1% for the worst two-week stretch since the pandemic-driven market crash of March 2020.

Both the Nifty 50 and the...