India VIX, the so-called fear index skyrocketed on Tuesday after election results seemed likely to deviate significantly from exit poll predictions.

The index had risen 44% intraday to a nine-year high earlier in the session to 30.85.

What Happened: This spike occurred as early counting trends indicated that the Bharatiya Janata Party was unlikely to secure a clear majority on its own, despite its National Democratic Alliance going past the halfway mark comfortably.

On Monday, India VIX had settled at 12.92 after exit polls suggested a decisive majority for the NDA government.

Taking on a risk-averse stance ahead of the Lok Sabha election results, investors drove the Sensex to trade 4,100 points lower on Tuesday, led by significant declines in heavyweights like Reliance Industries and financial stocks.

See Also: ‘Not What Markets Wanted’: D Muthukrishnan On The Crash As Election Trends Come In

Additionally, the market capitalisation of all listed companies on Bombay Stock Exchange fell by ₹17.61 lakh crore to ₹408.3 lakh crore in intraday trading.

Biggest Losers: In the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank alone contributed to a 1,300-point drop in the index, with Larsen and Toubro, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, NTPC and Power Grid also dragging the index down.

Price Action: However, in late afternoon trade, the Nifty 50 was down 6.13% and the Sensex was trading 6% lower, recouping some losses from a steep fall earlier in the session. The VIX was trading 7.7% higher at 13.92 in late afternoon trade.

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