April 2026 in numbers: the rebound from the March low

A month of recovery

April 2026 undid a good part of March. The Nifty 50 rose 7.5%, from 22,331.40 on 30 March, the year's lowest close so far, to 23,997.55 on 30 April. It was the index's best calendar month since December 2023.

Smaller companies rose far more. The Nifty Smallcap 250 gained 17.1%, its best month in our record, and the Next 50 15.4%. Every one of the 124 NSE indices with a published P/E rose, the mirror image of March, when not one did.

Not everything turned. Foreign institutions sold another ₹70,136 crore of shares, gold and silver were almost flat, and the rupee slipped 0.6% against the dollar.

All figures compare 30 March, March's last trading day, with 30 April, except gold, silver and the rupee, which compare 31 March with 30 April.

Stocks

The Smallcap 250's 17.1% is the largest calendar-month gain in its record, which starts in April 2016. The Next 50's 15.4% is the largest in its record since 2012. The Midcap 150 is back within 2.7% of the record it set on 7 January.

The Nifty 50 peaked for the month at 24,576.60 on 21 April and gave back some of it in the last week. Its single best day was 8 April, up 3.78%, which we looked at the next morning.

The sectors that fell least in March, pharma and IT, rose least in April. Realty, which had fallen 16.6% in March, rose most.

India VIX fell from 27.89 to 18.46. Its low for the month was 17.21 on 17 April.

Valuations

The Nifty 50's P/E went from 19.62 to 20.94, a 6.7% rise against a 7.5% gain in price. Every broad index shows the same small gap: the Smallcap 250's P/E rose 16.0% to 30.00 on a 17.1% price gain, and the Midcap 150's 9.3% to 33.45 on a 13.2% gain. So the earnings behind each index edged up during the month, and valuations rose a little less than prices. Our Nifty 50 P/E post from early April has the longer view.

Funds

Median April return, Direct plan, Growth option, from 30 March NAV to 30 April NAV:

The order is the market's order: the smaller the companies a category holds by mandate, the larger its April gain. The median large-cap fund beat the Nifty 50's price return by nearly a point; the 12 technology funds gained a median 5.68%.

Gold and silver

International spot prices converted to rupees, before import duty and GST. After a 7.9% fall in March, gold went sideways. It ended April 10.5% below its 29 January peak of ₹1,57,381.

Institutional flows

FIIs were net sellers on 16 of April's 20 sessions, and DIIs net buyers on 16. For 2026 so far, FII net selling totals ₹2,40,752 crore and DII net buying ₹3,01,668 crore. The rebound came without the foreign selling stopping.

The rupee

The dollar rose from about ₹94.36 to ₹94.92 over April, 0.6%. The rupee's weakest close in our series came during the month: ₹94.95 to the dollar on 14 April. The rupee in the first quarter has the run-up to it.

What this does not tell you

A strong month after a bad one is not a trend. April's gains came straight after the year's low, and one month says nothing about May.

Index levels are not your returns. Someone who invested at the January record is still behind; someone who invested on 30 March is well ahead.

The flow figures are provisional, and metal prices exclude duty and GST. Nothing here is advice to buy or sell.

Where to go from here

The live numbers are on NSE index valuations, gold and silver prices and FII and DII data. March's fall is in March 2026 in numbers.

Every small-cap fund is on the small-cap fund page, and small-cap fund returns in April covers the category in more depth.