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Bears were holding a tight grip over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, with both Sensex and Nifty falling over a percent, on the back of negative cues from other Asian markets. Heavy selling at Utilities and Power counters kept equity indices down, while Tata Steel fell the most on the BSE. Sentiments remained negative as RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Jayanth R Varma said that India's economic growth is now 'extremely fragile' and needs all the support that it can get, as private consumption and capital investment are yet to pick up. Varma further said out of the four engines of growth for the economy, exports and government spending supported the Indian economy through the pandemic, but other engines need to pick up the baton now.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading lower, as Singapore's industrial production declined for the second straight month in November, and at a faster-than-expected pace. The data from the Economic Development Board revealed that industrial production dropped 3.2 percent year-on-year in November, faster than the 0.9 percent fall in October. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, industrial production decreased 4.8 percent annually in November, reversing a 2.2 percent gain in the previous month.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 60160.02, down by 666.20 points or 1.10% after trading in a range of 59975.96 and 60546.88. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 2.37%, while Small cap index was down by 2.94%.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Healthcare up by 0.11%, while Utilities down by 2.93%, Power down by 2.77%, Metal down by 2.65%, Telecom down by 2.51% and Industrials down by 2.45% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Nestle up by 0.43%, Sun Pharma up by 0.39%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.26% and Titan Company up by 0.02%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.39%, Tata Motors down by 3.11%, SBI down by 2.17%, Wipro down by 1.99% and Reliance Industries down by 1.78% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Jayanth R Varma has said that India's economic growth is now 'extremely fragile' and needs all the support that it can get, as private consumption and capital investment are yet to pick up. He further said out of the four engines of growth for the economy, exports and government spending supported the Indian economy through the pandemic, but other engines need to pick up the baton now.

Varma said ‘I like to think in terms of the four engines of growth for the economy: exports, government spending, capital investment and private consumption. While exports cannot be the main driver of growth because of the global slowdown, government spending is necessarily limited by fiscal constraints.’ Observing that experts are waiting for many years for private investment to pick up the slack, he said that concerns about future growth prospects appear to be deterring capital investment. The critical question is whether the fourth engine of private consumption will remain buoyant after the pent-up demand dissipates over the coming months. He said ‘I, therefore, fear that economic growth is now extremely fragile and needs all the support that it can get.’

Varma pointed out that India is enjoying the benefits of a demographic dividend, and it, therefore, needs high growth to provide employment opportunities for the young people joining the workforce. He said ‘I do not fear that India will grow slower than the rest of the world. I fear that we may grow slower than our own aspirations and our own needs.’

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17923.25, down by 204.10 points or 1.13% after trading in a range of 17857.10 and 18050.45. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Divi's Lab up by 1.62%, Cipla up by 0.55%, Nestle up by 0.51%, Sun Pharma up by 0.43% and Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.40%. On the flip side, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 4.11%, Tata Steel down by 3.34%, Hindalco down by 3.29%, Tata Motors down by 3.17% and Adani Enterprises down by 3.09% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading lower; Shanghai Composite declined 15.11 points or 0.49% to 3,039.32, Jakarta Composite lost 12.74 points or 0.19% to 6,811.69, Straits Times trembled 16.78 points or 0.51% to 3,252.75, KOSPI fell 43.04 points or 1.83% to 2,313.69, Nikkei 225 slipped 272.62 points or 1.03% to 26,235.25, Taiwan Weighted dropped 171.31 points or 1.19% to 14,271.63 and Hang Seng decreased 108.60 points or 0.55% to 19,570.62.

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