Revisiting the Indian stock market crash of 2008

Stock market crashes are a universal phenomenon, however the magnitude and the duration of these crashes may vary from country to country. These Stock market crashes may also vary in their frequency and intensity. Moreover the crash of the stock market of one country may or may not be accompanied by the crash of one or more stock markets in other countries. That is why there exist numerous definitions of the term stock market crash but no one is universally acceptable. Defining a stock market crash seems simpler but attempting a more precise definition and measuring it is really a very difficult task. The present paper explores the different meanings of stock market crashes and further proceeds to identify the stock market crash of 2008. Our analysis find that beginning of the crisis happened in Jan. 2008 before the crash was triggered. The beginning of the crash can be attributed to June 30, 2008 when Nifty had declined more than 35 per cent from the high point of January. Finally, we have observed October 24, 2008 as the major crash date, that is, the date on which Nifty has suffered a fall of 12.2 per cent which is the only double digit fall in percentage terms on closing basis and also coincided with a crash in global indices.