The selloff in the market in the past few weeks has wiped out over Rs 2 lakh crore from the recently listed stocks that include leading ones like One97 Communications (Paytm), FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa), Zomato, PB Fintech (PolicyBazaar) and CarTrade. However, Nazara Technologies which is a gaming company that is backed by billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has remained mostly insulated from the recent rout in tech-enabled, consumer-facing companies.

Consider this: Since listing a little over two months ago, Paytm, the digital money transfer pioneer in India, has lost nearly half its value to a current market capitalisation of Rs 59,472 crore. Worse, from its IPO price of Rs 2,150, at the current market price of Rs 917 on the BSE, it has lost over 57% of its value. Similarly, on Monday, Zomato lost 20% and closed at the lower circuit, while Nykaa, after dipping to its life-low of Rs 1,693 during the day, closed at Rs 1,735. These two stocks are still trading at a premium to their respective IPO prices, while Paytm, CarTrade and PolicyBazaar are in the red.

Six tech-enabled, new age companies that listed in 2021 have together lost about Rs 1.2 lakh crore in market cap since listing. Nazara Tech, on the other hand, is still in the green with its market cap up nearly Rs 3,000 crore since debut.

The selloff in the Indian market in these stocks is partially due to the recent tech rout in the US markets, traders said. In the US, the Nasdaq Composite index is down a little over 18% and could technically enter bear territory if it falls 20% or more from its recent peak in mid-November. There, experienced fund managers are moving from stocks of companies that offer high growth opportunities to those of established businesses, called value stocks. A similar trend is observed in India too, analysts said.

According to Arun Kejriwal, director at the investment advisory firm KRIS, since mid-2021, some of the tech-enabled companies listed as the market was in a bull phase. Although most were loss-making, yet the stocks did well on the bourses, which in turn attracted a large number of investors. Now that there is a slide in the US market, these stocks are also facing heat from the selloff by local investors.

“In the current situation, investors are sure to take a re-look at all recently listed stocks, particularly the loss-making ones,” Kejriwal said. For long, Dalal Street investors have not seen an IPO being withdrawn for lack of investor interest. “February-March could bring about an IPO that could bomb on the Street,” he said, indicating that we may soon witness an IPO being withdrawn.