A tale of delusion, disruption, and a lot of investor tears

Published on EduInvesting.in | May 2025

Once upon a time, these stocks were the poster children of “India’s digital future.”
Now? They’re the financial version of “It’s not you, it’s the macros.”

They’ve fallen 70% (or more) from their peaks — but still walk around like they own the index.

Let’s meet our “Main Characters” of the Market Melodrama.

🎭 1. Zomato — From ₹169 to ₹48, and now to ₹140+ (Plot Twist!)

📉 Fall from high: ~70% (at bottom)

🎢 Current status: ~Up 170% from lows

🍕 Tagline: “Still delivering food and quarterly surprises”

Backstory:
Zomato was listed in July 2021 amid fries, funds, and frenzy. The IPO was oversubscribed like a free pizza party.

Then came 2022. Reality was served cold.

• Blinkit losses = investor blinked and dipped
• Profits? Haha bro, we’re a growth company!
• Stock fell like your willpower during Navratri fasts

Plot Twist:
Zomato posted a surprise profit. Costs dropped, volumes rose, and delivery finally made sense.

🧠 EduInvestor Take:
Zomato is that guy who partied too hard at 22, but now has a job, a haircut, and a SIP.

✅ Can it rebound? Yes.
⚠️ Should you trust it fully? Only after 3 more profitable quarters.

💸 2. Paytm — “Soundbox toh bajta hai, par profit kab bajega?”

📉 From ₹1950 to ₹310 (low), now ₹420

📉 Still down ~75% from IPO

💳 Tagline: “Payments king, profits peasant”

Backstory:
Paytm came to the IPO party dressed as a unicorn. It left as a donkey carrying ₹18,000 crore of investor regret.

• Biggest Indian IPO
• Biggest wealth destruction
• Biggest lesson in “valuation ≠ value”

Despite massive user base, the company bled cash and confidence.

Now?
Profitability is “almost” here. Losses reduced. Soundbox is selling. But RBI bans, regulatory overhang, and management chaos still haunt it.

🧠 EduInvestor Verdict:
Paytm is that ex who says they’ve changed. And maybe they have.
But trust comes with EMIs.

🔁 Watch it, maybe trade it — but don’t marry it.

📡 3. Vodafone Idea — India’s most elaborate group project

📉 Down 95% from its 2017 highs

☎️ Tagline: “We might raise funds… someday”

Backstory:
Once the 2nd largest telecom player, now the 3rd… behind BSNL (on some days).

• Mount Everest of debt: ₹2.2 lakh crore
• Annual losses bigger than Bhansali’s budgets
• Fundraising attempts: 47
• Actual fundraising: 0.002%

Meanwhile, Airtel and Jio are already in 6G beta testing, and Vodafone Idea is buffering.

Investors love it because:

• It’s cheap
• It’s “too big to fail”
• It’s backed by memes, not fundamentals

🧠 EduInvestor Take:
This stock has more shareholders than users. If “hope” were a strategy, VI would be Sensex 50.

❌ Avoid unless revival becomes real. For now, it’s still on life support — with bad signal.

💊 4. Glenmark Life Sciences — Pharma IPO that lost the prescription

📉 Down ~65% from IPO highs

💊 Tagline: “APIs were cool… until nobody cared”

Backstory:
This was supposed to be a jewel in India’s pharma supply chain. Instead, it became a sleeping pill for investors.

• Post-listing rally died out
• API demand normalized
• No buzz, no breakout, no narrative

The promoter Glenmark Pharma even tried to sell stake — but the market said, “meh.”

🧠 EduInvestor Take:
This is a “boring pharma stock” that’s so boring even boring investors forgot about it.

🔁 Re-rate possible on fresh demand revival or M&A. Until then, you could buy it… or just buy aspirin.

🔋 5. Suzlon Energy — The OG comeback story (sort of)

📉 Fell 99% from 2008 highs

⚡ From ₹400+ to ₹2.50, now ₹44

🌬️ Tagline: “Winds of change… or just wind?”

Backstory:
Suzlon was India’s wind energy poster child — until debt, mismanagement, and crashing turbines blew everything away.

Now?
Revival is real-ish. Debt cut. New orders. Green energy tailwinds. Stock multiplied 15x from lows.

Investors call it the penny stock messiah.

🧠 EduInvestor Take:
If you’re here for the thrill — and don’t mind turbulence — Suzlon is that spicy momo of the market.

✅ Momentum? Sure.
⚠️ Sustainable business? Still TBD.

📦 Summary Table of Sadness (and Hope)

🧠 EduInvestor Verdict: Main Character or Side Hustle?

💬 Final Thoughts

These 5 stocks fell harder than crypto bros during bear markets. But a few are crawling back — bruised, but not broken.

In the stock market, every fallen hero thinks they’re a phoenix.
Only some actually rise.

So choose wisely. Hope is not a strategy — but a little optimism (with trailing stop loss) never hurt anyone.