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Indian equity benchmarks extended the losing run to the fourth straight session and ended with heavy losses on Monday, dragged down by heavyweights Infosys and HDFC twins amid a weak trend in Asian markets. Markets began trade on weak note and stayed in red for whole day, as traders remained cautious as the World Bank cut its economic growth forecast for India and the whole South Asian region, citing worsening supply bottlenecks and rising inflation risks caused by the Ukraine crisis. The international lender lowered its growth estimate for India to 8% from 8.7% for the current fiscal year to March, 2023. Additional pressure came in with a private report stating that with Covid cases witnessing a rise in the national capital, traders and business owners are apprehensive that their pandemic-hit businesses might be engulfed in another wave even before recovering from losses over the past two years.

Markets extended fall in afternoon deals, as India’s March wholesale price index-based inflation rose to 14.55 per cent as compared to 13.11 per cent in last month. According to the data released by the industry department, the high rate of inflation in March 2022 was primarily due to rise in prices of crude petroleum and natural gas, mineral oils, basic metals, owing to disruption in global supply chain caused by Russia-Ukraine conflict. Traders overlooked the finance ministry’s statement that the focus on capex in the recently announced Budget for the current fiscal year will boost manufacturing and tax revenue collections, thereby keeping India on track to becoming a $5 trillion economy. Market participants also paid no heed towards a private report stated that a normal monsoon season this year is expected to mitigate some inflationary pressures, especially being witnessed in certain food commodities. In terms of predictions, both Skymet and IMD have given a forecast for a 'normal' Southwest Monsoon for the current year at 99 per cent and 98 per cent of the long period average (LPA) respectively.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Monday due to inflation worries and a deepening crisis in Ukraine. Trading volumes were thin amid Easter holidays in Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.  Meanwhile, official data showed China's GDP grew an annual 4.8 percent during January to March, picking up pace from a 4 percent increase in the fourth quarter last year. The Chinese government has set a growth target for this year of around 5.5 percent, the lowest in three decades. Separate data showed that retail sales declined 3.5 percent in March from a year ago, marking the first drop since July 2020. Industrial production grew by 5 percent in March, compared with 7.5 percent in the first two months of the year. Unemployment in 31 major cities surged to 6 percent in March, a record high.

Back home, aviation industry stocks were in focus as Jet fuel prices were hiked by a marginal 0.2 per cent - the eighth straight increase this year - to an all-time high, reflecting a surge in global energy prices. The price of ATF was hiked by Rs 277.5 per kiloliter to Rs 1,13,202.33 per kl (Rs 113.2 per litre) in the national capital. There were some reaction in textile industry stocks as Textiles Secretary U P Singh said the government’s decision to remove import duty on cotton is likely to help bring down prices of the commodity. There will be some important earnings announcements too to keep the markets buzzing.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 1172.19 points or 2.01% to 57,166.74 and the CNX Nifty was down by 302.00 points or 1.73% to 17,173.65.        

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 57,420.80 and 56,842.39, respectively. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.   

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.95%, while Small cap index was down by 1.01%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 1.97%, Utilities up by 1.91%, FMCG up by 0.65%, Auto up by 0.39%, Metal up by 0.29% while, Finance down by 2.12%, IT down by 4.76%, TECK down by 4.60%, Telecom down by 1.77% and Bankex down by 1.68% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 6.11%, Tata Steel up by 1.51%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.37%, Titan Company up by 1.21% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.27%, HDFC down by 4.81%, HDFC Bank down by 4.74%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.69% and Wipro down by 3.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, finance ministry has said that the focus on capex in the recently announced Budget for the current fiscal year will boost manufacturing and tax revenue collections, thereby keeping India on track to becoming a $5 trillion economy. Tax revenues in last fiscal year grew by a record 34 per cent to Rs 27.07 lakh crore, which the ministry said is a remarkable testimony to the rapid recovery of the economy following successive waves of COVID-19.

It stated the central government's focus on making India a global economic powerhouse and the host of measures adopted towards this commitment has directly reflected in India's GDP growth in recent years. This has translated into increased revenue collection for the exchequer while keeping India well on the track towards achieving a USD 5 trillion economy.

Further it said apart from a brief setback owing to COVID-19, the government has maintained the nominal GDP growth above 10 per cent in recent years. GST, a simplified way of collecting indirect taxes, has been a revolutionary step propelling India's GDP. It also said with a big push to capex in the Union Budget of 2022-23, the coming years are going to see a surge in domestic manufacturing as well as growth in employment. These in turn will directly boost tax contribution to the exchequer.

Besides, the gross corporate taxes during 2021-22 was Rs 8.6 lakh crore against Rs 6.5 lakh crore in the previous year. It stated this shows that the new simplified tax regime with low rates and no exemptions has lived up to its promise, enhancing Ease of Doing Business for the corporate sector, stimulating India's economy and increasing tax revenues for the government.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 17,237.75 and 17,067.85. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.      

The top gainers on Nifty were NTPC up by 6.37%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.01%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.70%, Tata Steel up by 1.57% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.47%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.27%, HDFC down by 4.81%, HDFC Bank down by 4.60%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.43% and Apollo Hospital Enterprises down by 3.78% were the top losers.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Monday as uncertainty in the Russian-Ukraine war and soaring inflation weighed on investor sentiments, and trading volumes were also thin amid Easter holidays in Hong Kong. Japanese stocks dropped ahead of earnings from big companies next week. Further, Chinese shares declined even as China’s GDP data topped forecasts. Data showed that China's GDP grew an annual 4.8% during January to March, picking up pace from a 4% increase in the fourth quarter last year. Meanwhile, China reported deaths of three people from Covid in Shanghai for the first time since it entered lockdown in late March.

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