NIIT has led the losers list with the scrip falling 37 per cent from Rs 3245 on October 11 to Rs 2060. Infosys has lost 19 per cent, Aptech 32 per cent, Pentafour 22 per cent, Silverline 23 per cent and Satyam 17 per cent.

Software shares were in the forefront of the recent runaway rally in Sensex to 5150. Retail investors have once again become losers. The market capitalisation - total value of all listed shares - of software companies has fallen by Rs 17,000 crore from Rs 1,00,000 crore. Software firms were the top performers in the quarterly results with their average net profits rising over 66 per cent in the quarter ended September. ``There wasexcessive speculation in software scrips. Operators were accumulating huge positions in these scrips. Now with bears tightening their grip, operators are cutting their positions. SEBI and exchanges should not have allowed huge positions in software scrips,'' said BSE broker BV Shah.

According to a fund manager, software shares had come down at the same speed it went up. ``It is clear that software shares were overpriced. Nobody had warned investors about these high price levels. FIIs which were accumulating software shares are now dumping them in the market,'' said an analyst.

Marketmen are now worried that software companies are likely to post lower profits in the third and fourth quarters of the current year. ``Many global companies have stopped all software related work due to Y2K millennium fears. It is unlikely that software companies will repeat their performance in the coming year,'' said a broker.

The software bubble has also affected the Indian techhies who were working abroad on highsalaries. Many Indian software engineers working on Y2K projects are being sent home. As most these engineers were working for Indian companies, the share prices of these companies have come down. ``Till date, both Indian companies and software engineers made lakhs on Y2K projects... now all of them are in the bench,'' said an industry analyst. As most of these companies did not focus on projects beyond year 2000 and due to uncertainties related with Y2K itself, these companies' long term profitability is now in question.