Volatility ruled the roost as the key benchmark indices trimmed gains in mid-afternoon trade after staging a sharp recovery from intraday low. At 14:20 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 51.23 points or 0.14% at 36,016.25. The Nifty 50 index was up 0.55 points at 11,028.25. The Sensex was trading a tad above psychological 36,000 mark after moving above and below that level in afternoon trade. The Nifty was trading above the psychological 11,000 mark after gyrating above and below that level in afternoon trade.
Shares witnessed sharp selling earlier in the day after the Finance Minister levied long-term capital gains tax of 10% for equity gains of over Rs 1 lakh.
In his Union Budget speech for the financial year 2018-19, Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley said that India is poised to become the fifth largest economy very soon. He added that India's GDP growth is seen at 7.2% to 7.5% in the second half of FY2018.
Fiscal deficit will touch 3.5% this year as against the targeted 3.2%. Will target 3.3% in FY 2019. The government has set a divestment target at Rs 80,000 crore for FY 2019, said Jaitley.
Jaitley proposed to cut corporate tax to 25% for firms upto Rs 250 crore annual turnover. Tax rate remained unchanged for individuals. Customs duty on mobile phones was raised to 20% from 15%. Custom duty on some mobile and TV parts was increased to 15%.
In 2016-17, 85 lakh new tax payers joined the system. This is a rise from 66.26 lakh in the preceding years. The total tax payers have increased from 6.47 lakh crore to 8.27 lakh crores, Arun Jaitley said.
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The finance minister has proposed to set up a dedicated affordable housing fund. He also proposed to raise the free cooking gas target to eight crore poor households. He also proposed to increase spending on rural sanitation.
With demonetisation, the quantum of cash currency in circulation and increased tax base and has also help improve the digitalization of our country, said Arun Jaitley. He also added that Foreign direct investment has gone up, while the GDP at 6.3% is a signal of a turnaround of the economy. He added that exports are expected to grow at 15% in 2018-19.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.46%, underperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.16%, outperforming the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned positive from negative. On BSE, 1,423 shares rose and 1,276 shares fell. A total of 142 shares were unchanged.
M&M (up 3.61%), IndusInd Bank (up 2.93%) and L&T (up 2.36%) were the top gainers from the Sensex pack.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 2.44%), ONGC (down 1.87%) and Reliance Industries (down 1.38%) were the top losers from the Sensex pack.
Shares of the country's largest cigarette maker ITC surged 4.31% to Rs 282.95 after the government left the cess on cigarettes unchanged.
PSU stocks were mixed after the finance minister said that it has set the disinvestment target of Rs 80000 crore for 2018-19. GAIL (India) (up 2.23%), Moil (up 0.93%), NBCC (India) (up 2.37%), SJVN (up 1.59%) and NMDC (up 1.42%) rose. MMTC (down 0.9%), NHPC (down 1.01%), Hindustan Copper (down 4.37%), Bharat Electronics (down 3.34%) and Coal India (down 1.67%) fell.
The finance minister Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget 2018-19 presented in the parliament today, 1 February 2018 said that the government has initiated the process of strategic disinvestment in 24 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) including strategic privatization of Air India.
Highlighting the government's effort to generate funds, the Finance Minister said that the Exchange Traded Fund Bharat-22 which was introduced to raise Rs 14500 crore, was over-subscribed in all segments. Similarly, the 2017-18 Budget estimates for disinvestment were pegged at the highest ever level of Rs 72500 crore and the estimated receipts from the same are expected to the tune of Rs 100000 crore in 2017-18, far exceeding the target.
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