"Finance Minister P Chidamabaram is blaming US recession for fall in stock markets, but the markets are falling after the budget and government's failure to compensate the exporters hit by rupee appreciation," BJP deputy leader V K Malhotra said in Lok Sabha.
Raising the matter during zero hour, he said, small investors have lost huge money in the stock market, which has lost about 6,000 points in last three months, and wiped out value of stocks "almost equivalent to the GDP".
The government should intervene immediately, otherwise investors could lose more money in the stock markets, he added.
Referring to Finance Minister's recent statement that Indian stock markets were falling partly due to the US slowdown, Malhotra said "while the US stock market declined by only three per cent, fall in Indian stock market was over 30 per cent mainly due to government policies".
Since the beginning of 2008, investors have lost over half a trillion dollars (about Rs 20,50,000 crore) in Indian stocks, while the BSE benchmark Sensex fell below 15,000 mark from 21,000 mark it breached in January this year.