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 Indian shares were set to open lower on Thursday after the Federal Reserve reiterated its fight against inflation even as it signaled it might soon pause interest rate hikes and as the U.S. treasury secretary ruled out insuring all banking deposits.

India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were down 0.15% at 17,112 as of 7:50 a.m. IST. The broader Asian equity indexes were subdued. [MKTS/GLOB]

Wall Street equities initially rose after the Fed raised rates by 25 basis points, as expected, and Chair Jerome Powell said policymakers had considered a pause due to the turmoil in the domestic banking system. But indexes gave up gains after Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the desire to tame inflation.

The indexes then reversed course to end sharply lower after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government is not considering 'blanket insurance' for all banking deposits, dashing hopes of a quick guarantee to stem the banking crisis.

India's information technology (IT) companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the United States and Europe, could be pressured by the uncertain banking sector outlook and an overall slowdown in client spending due to higher rates, analysts have said.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) snapped their nine-day selling streak on Wednesday and bought 617.2 million Rupees ($7.49 million) worth of equities.

Stocks to Watch:

** Hero MotoCorp: To raise prices of select two-wheelers from April 1.

** Hindustan Aeronautics: Government proposes to sell a stake of up to 3.5% stake in the company.

** G R Infraprojects: A joint venture with Patel Engineering is the lowest bidder for a 36.37 billion rupees ($441.4 million) project. The company is also the lowest bidder for a road project worth 8.72 billion rupees.

** HG Infra: The company is the lowest bidder for a national highways project worth 7.64 billion rupees. ($1 = 82.4030 Indian rupees)