Cumulatively, the total investors' wealth has got eroded by about Rs 2,82,000 crore so far this year.

However, the meltdown has been less severe so far this year, as compared to 2008 when an average of Rs 100 crore was wiped off in just two minutes of trade, as per an analysis of stock market losses during 2008 and first two months of 2009.

During 2008, the total investors' wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market capitalisation of all the listed companies, plummeted from close to Rs 72,00,000 crore to about Rs 31,00,000 crore.

So far in 2009, the investors' wealth on Indian bourses has gone further down to about Rs 28,60,000 crore, as per the current market value of the listed companies.

There were a total of 246 trading sessions in 2008, while so far in 2009 trades have been conducted on 39 days.

Taking into account a trading session of five hours and 35 minutes every day (markets open at 0955 hours and close at 1530 hours), an average of Rs 20 crore has been lost in every minute of trade so far this year.