IGI Logo

Indian equity benchmarks remained under pressure in late morning deals, with both Sensex and Nifty trading with sharp losses, as bears held their tight grip over the Dalal Street. Negative cues from other Asian markets impacted domestic sentiments. Traders were cautious, amid reports that capital markets regulator Sebi chairman Ajay Tyagi acknowledged the systemic risk concerns raised by the RBI and Financial Stability Board over a disconnect between markets and the real economy, but said that this is a global phenomenon also observed in India. He said that after the massive fall in markets in March 2020, a strong rebound starting from April was the sharpest V-shaped recovery in the last 30 years.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, even after Malaysia's exports rose in January. The data from the Department of Statistics showed that exports rose 6.6 percent year-on-year to MYR 89.6 billion in January. Imports increased 1.3 percent annually to MYR 73.0 billion in January. The trade surplus totaled MYR 16.6 billion in January, which was below the expected level of MYR 17.0 billion.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 49533.82, down by 1505.49 points or 2.95% after trading in a range of 49445.35 and 50400.31. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 1.96%, while Small cap index was down by 1.15%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex down by 4.43%, Energy down by 2.22%, Auto down by 2.14%, PSU down by 2.12% and Telecom down by 2.11%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.69%, Sun Pharma up by 0.60%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.27%, Nestle up by 0.20% and NTPC up by 0.19%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 5.09%, HDFC Bank down by 4.83%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.60%, Axis Bank down by 4.55% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 4.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a bid to improve ease of doing business in the country, Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda has said that the government is continuously working to reduce regulatory compliance burden on the pharma industry. The minister also emphasised that the domestic pharma industry has the capability to achieve the target of $130 billion turnover by 2030.

Gowda said the country has been serving more than 200 plus countries and territories with its pharma products and it will continue to grow in value terms. He noted that Indian pharma industry can achieve the ambitious target which it has set for itself, reaching an annual turnover of $130 billion by 2030. Similarly, the medical device industry in the country has the potential to grow to about $50 billion by 2025. He further said ‘Along with this growth I am sure the industry will stay committed to the noble cause of providing drugs at an affordable price to the common man’.

The minister said the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities of the global supply chain in the pharma sector. In order to take care of that, the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has launched a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for bulk drugs and medical devices with an outlay of Rs 6,940 crore and Rs 3,420 crore respectively.

Gowda said ‘we have been able to approve applications of incentives worth Rs 6,564 crore already. Besides, the Cabinet has also approved another PLI scheme for the pharma sector with an outlay of Rs 15,000 crore. We want to support manufacturing units to become global champions, and penetrate the global value chain’. He added that the government wants to build domestic capabilities in high-end specialised products such as biopharmaceuticals, complex generic drugs and gene therapy drugs. The Minister also sought industry participation in government schemes like Ayushman Bharat Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14694.45, down by 402.90 points or 2.67% after trading in a range of 14634.80 and 14919.45. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 1.02%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab up by 0.91%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.42%, NTPC up by 0.32% and Divis Lab up by 0.24%. On the flip side, ICICI Bank down by 4.79%, HDFC Bank down by 4.57%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.49%, HDFC down by 4.21% and Bajaj Finserv down by 4.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 959.35 points or 3.18% to 29,208.92, Hang Seng decreased 731.68 points or 2.43% to 29,342.49, Taiwan Weighted dropped 415.39 points or 2.52% to 16,036.79, Jakarta Composite lost 83.65 points or 1.33% to 6,206.00, KOSPI fell 101.05 points or 3.26% to 2,998.64, Straits Times trembled 29.07 points or 0.98% to 2,944.47 and Shanghai Composite declined 65.96 points or 1.84% to 3,519.09.

Above views are of the author and not of the website kindly read disclaimer