"The Union Budget has a dual focus on growth and fiscal consolidation. The fiscal calculation is based on a nominal GDP growth projection of 10.5% which is credible. At the same time, the fiscal deficit target at 5.9% is largely in line with our estimates while the borrowing amount is slightly below our expectations."

To finance the fiscal deficit in 2023-24, the net market borrowings from dated securities are estimated at Rs 11.8 lakh crore.

Globally, Sebi-run NISM is one of the largest financial market certifying institutions, issuing over 20 programme certificates covering various critical market functions such as sales, advice, operations and compliance across financial market products such as equities, derivatives of equity, currency, interest rates and commodities, mutual funds and pensions.

Currently, there are 17 mutual fund schemes that invest in the infrastructure sector. Toppers in this category have offered 13-19% returns in one year.

The finance minister did not grant anything from the long wishlist in the budget. Sure, all the spending on infrastructure and sops to MSME would help economic growth and boost the sentiment in the stock market.

Earlier when you placed a redemption request before the cut-off time on Monday, you would get money on Thursday in your bank account. With the new system, you will get the money a day earlier — on Wednesday.

As per AMFI data, growth/equity-oriented schemes and solution-oriented schemes witnessed inflows of Rs 1.53 lakh crore and Rs 1,554 crore respectively.

The open-ended equity scheme will follow business cycle-based investing theme, the fund house said on Tuesday.

According to the fund house, the domestic economy is in an interesting phase right now. The onset of the Covid 19 pandemic made matters more challenging amid the NBFC crisis pre-pandemic.

ETMutualFunds looked at data and found out that several mutual funds had investments in the Adani Group companies like Adani Enterprise, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Adani Power Ltd., Adani Total Gas., Adani Transmission, Adani Wilmar, Ambuja Cement, and ACC Ltd.

Inflation in India went up in sync with the rest of the world and in a bid to tame inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised the policy repo rate by 225 bps from 4% since May 2022 to 6.25% to 6.25% as of December 2022.

“If we look at the Quant Fear Index, in the last two or three days, when this fall unfolded in a big way, it did not spike up to that extent to say reversal. It can settle down in the next few trading sessions. We are closer to that event which means the downside may not be very significant from the current levels.”

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To encourage retail investors to invest in gold through the mutual fund route rather than buying physical gold, AMFI had proposed that LTCG on Gold ETFs and Gold Fund of Funds should be brought down in the Union Budget 2023.

While the fund made a strong comeback in 2021, it slipped again in 2022, lagging the index sharply. This leaves its long term return profile weak, needing a lot of catch-up with index and peers.

Funds with diluted value bias have failed to make most of the current uptick.

From Friday, Indian equity markets moved to a T+1 settlement cycle for all stocks, shortening the settlement cycle by a day and making the availability of funds a day sooner than at present.

Edelweiss CRISIL IBX 50:50 Gilt Plus SDL Short Duration Index Fund will replicate CRISIL IBX 50:50 Gilt Plus SDL Short Duration Index by investing in a diversified portfolio of Indian Government Bonds and SDLs, subject to tracking errors.

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The minimum application amount is Rs 5,000 and in multiples of Rs 1 thereafter. The fund will invest predominantly in equity and equity related instruments across market capitalisation- large cap, mid cap and small cap companies.

This belief has translated to flexicap category being the largest equity investment category in the given scheme classification of mutual funds. The category has garnered approximately Rs 2.49 lakh crores of AUM which is in 1.25 crore folios.

Several fund managers believe that time is right for the government to introduce a debt mutual fund option under Section 80C. AMFI says it will also help to channelise household savings into the bond market and deepen the bond market.

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The purpose of this was to see how many schemes consistently beat their benchmarks in different periods like three, five, seven, and 10 years. Mutual fund advisors often ask investors to choose schemes that have consistently beaten their benchmarks over a long period of time.

Returns from equity mutual funds are taxed depending on the period of holding the investment. ULIPs are not taxed as they are considered insurance products.

Conservative investors who are moving from deposits to mutual funds or those worried about a full-equity portfolio’s volatility and wanting a small allocation to stocks can consider equity savings funds.

As of December 31, 2022, 66% of the company’s total monthly average AUM is contributed by individual investors compared to 58% for the industry.In an exchange filing, the company said that it had a market share of 12.8% of the individual monthly average AUM in the industry, making it one of the most preferred choices of individual investors.

Gunwani also served as the Deputy CIO (Equities) at ICICI Prudential AMC. Gunwani graduated from IIT Madras and has a postgraduate diploma in management from IIM Bangalore.

Investors must focus on the processes and controlling the controllable and not worry too much about other things, for e.g., macroeconomic factors like interest rates, inflation and crude oil prices which are beyond one’s control.

According to fund managers, the government will most likely meet its fiscal deficit aim of 6.4% of GDP in FY23 aided by robust tax revenue growth and higher than budgeted growth in nominal GDP.

Most of the schemes in the category had high exposure in private banks. Among PSU banks, the best performing schemes had investments in Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, and Punjab National Bank.

To help mutual funds penetrate further into smaller towns and cater to investors long term goal like retirement, here are a few recommendations made by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) for the Budget 2023.

The fund house managed Rs 79,000 crore in fixed income and Rs 28,360 crore in equity as on December 31, 2022.

"A rising price (of gold) puts some pressure on investors, with people holding back investments."

There are a total 24 schemes investing in gold at the moment. Silver funds are a new entrant to the mutual fund market. There are 12 schemes in the category, including ETFs and FOFs.

We examine the key fundamentals of the fund, its portfolio and performance to help you make an informed investment decision.

A radically different investing style has put the fund house in the spotlight.

"There is a case to make pension plans from insurance companies on a par with NPS which has a separate limit. Globally, we have seen that separate tax saving limits for insurance goes a long way in increasing penetration and India is no exception," said Tarun Chugh, CEO Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance.

Three Indian issuers that are rated A- and below are scheduled to raise funds next week via shorter tenor bonds, indicating an improved investor appetite for such notes. The rates for these papers are in the range of 10.50-14.00%.

Currently, 10 new mutual fund offers are open for investment. They are from balanced advantage fund, multicap fund, multi asset allocation fund, gilt fund, fixed maturity plan, and ETF categories.

There are seven index schemes in the small cap mutual fund category. These schemes are benchmarked against Nifty Smallcap 50 - TRI, and Nifty Smallcap 250 - TRI. Three small cap index funds were launched in 2022.

In response to an additional question, more than 60% of respondents, 55 of 89, said the Fed was more likely to hold rates steady for at least the rest of the year than cut. That view lined up with the survey's median projection for the first cut to come in early 2024.

If you have any mutual fund queries, message on ET Mutual Funds on Facebook. We will get it answered by our panel of experts.

Debt Mutual funds too went through a torrid phase over the last few years lurching from one crisis to another, starting with credit defaults by ILFS and others, to the massive liquidity crisis for investors in Templeton debt funds.

Many fund houses launched multi asset funds recently and some more are in the pipeline. In this scenario, the question is- are multi asset allocation funds really worth the hype?

As per Sebi mandate, medium duration funds must invest debt in and money market instruments with Macaulay duration of three and four years. As you can see, these schemes are suitable for investors looking to invest for three to four years or more.

The Fed's benchmark overnight lending rate currently sits in a target range of 4.25% to 4.50%, and investors expect the Fed to lift that rate by a quarter of a percentage point at the end of its Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting.

Long term funds lose money when the interest rates are going up. However, they make double-digit returns when the rates starts to fall . If you can take risk, here are our picks for 2023.

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Out of 69 schemes that have been in the market, 44 schemes have offered double-digit returns in the last three months. The top performers in this category were technology ETFs. Mirae Asset Hang Seng TECH ETF has offered the highest return of 39.97% in the three-month duration, followed by Mirae Asset Hang Seng TECH ETF FoF which offered 39.25% returns.

The flagship entity of the Adani Group got bids for 50.9 million shares against an offer size of 45.5 million shares, excluding the anchor book, at a price range of ₹3,112-3,276 apiece. Adani Enterprises closed 2.8% higher at ₹2,973.90 Tuesday on the BSE, having dropped for two days in a row. The benchmark Sensex ended almost flat Tuesday.

Such rights allow an employee to receive a bonus equivalent to the rise in the company's stock price over a certain period - something Indian regulations prohibit for companies going public.

Balaji Solutions' revenue from operations stood at Rs 482 crore in FY22, falling marginally due to normalisation post-easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, while profit for the same period came in at Rs 15 crore.

The company may consider a pre-IPO placement aggregating up to Rs 24 crore. If such placement is completed, the fresh issue size will be reduced. Proceeds from its fresh issuance worth Rs 86.60 crore will be utilized for funding incremental working capital requirements of the company, and general corporate purposes.

Additionally, AEL is close to receiving further investment commitments of $1-1.1 billion (around ₹8,100-9,000 crore) from investors in Middle East and Southeast Asia with the announcement expected on Tuesday when the FPO closes, said a person directly aware of the matter.

Incorporated in 2018, FirstMeridian provides a wide range of service offerings, including general staffing and allied services, by offering solutions for contract staffing, workforce automation, trade marketing, and global technology through short and long-term technology contract staffing

IHC will make the investment through its subsidiary Green Transmission Investment Holding RSC Limited.

According to the offer documents, the company proposes to use '4,165 crore of the issue proceeds to repay the debt owed by the company and three subsidiaries - Adani Airport Holdings, Adani Road Transport and Mundra Solar.

The basis of allotment of FPO would be finalised by 3 February and shares would be credited to successful applicants' demat accounts by 7 February. The new equity shares would be available for trading the next day on 8 February.

The capital markets regulator said it returned PayMate's offer document back to its merchant bankers on January 17. PayMate said in a press release it aims to submit the mandatory system audit report (SAR) to the Reserve Bank of India by the second week of February. Submission of SAR to the central bank is part of the standard operating protocol to receive final approval from the central bank as payment aggregator, it said.

The Goldman Sachs- and Equity International-backed company had filed a DRHP with the markets regulator in 2019 to raise about Rs 1,900 crore through an initial public offering of shares, but the plan was shelved due to the pandemic.

The company plans to use the proceeds from the fresh issue to repay outstanding loans availed by it and its subsidiary Avalon Technology and Services Pvt Ltd, and also to meet working capital requirements

RIL is currently in a mini-capex cycle across petrochem, telecom (Jio) and new energy businesses, bringing the focus back on the company's capex and rising debt. "While RIL does not give a capex guidance, we expect overall spending levels to moderate as spectrum acquisition is behind us and large immediate spending in the new energy business is unlikely," the brokerage said.

Adani Group has consistently aligned itself to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda. It has pledged more than $70 billion to help India pivot from being a fossil fuel importer to a generator of renewable energy.

According to the draft papers, the public issue with a face value of Rs 5 per equity share consists of a complete fresh issue of shares of Rs 750 crore with no offer-for-sale component.Of the proceeds from its fresh issuance, Rs 400 crore will be utilised for prepayment/repayment of all or a portion of outstanding borrowings availed by the company, and Rs 200 crore will be used to fund working capital requirements and general corporate purposes.

The company will offer partly paid shares to retail investors at a discount of ₹64 apiece to the issue price. Investors must pay 50% of the offer price at the time of placing bids in the FPO, and the remaining 50% on one or more subsequent calls, as decided by the board.

Secondary share sale to offer exit to legacy fin investors, growth equity for expansions.

The company had filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for the IPO with Sebi in September 2021 and is aiming to raise Rs 8,430 crore. Oyo’s last submission to Sebi was the updated financial results of the first half of financial year 2022-23.

As per the draft papers, Innova Captab's proposed IPO comprises fresh issuance of equity shares worth Rs 400 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 96 lakh equity shares by promoters and other shareholders.

The OFS consists of sale of 1.25 crore equity shares by Hari Om Rai, up to 31.35 lakh shares by Shailendra Nath Rai, up to 78.38 lakh shares each by Sunil Bhalla and Vishal Sehgal, up to 1.13 crore shares by Unic Memory Technology and up to 9.75 lakh shares by Tupperware Kitchenware.

Innova Captab is an integrated pharmaceutical company in India with a presence across the value of the pharmaceutical chain including research and development, manufacturing, drug distribution and marketing, and exports. The company filed preliminary IPO papers with Sebi on July 07, 2022.

The FPO could result in the stakes of promoters led by Gautam Adani falling by 3.5%. As of September 2022, the promoters owned 72.63% of Adani Enterprises, while the remaining 27.37% was with public shareholders. Life Insurance Corporation held 4.03% among the public shareholders, while Nomura Singapore, APMS Investment Fund, Elara India Opportunities Fund, and Lts Investment Fund owned stakes between 1% and 2%.

In the past six months, 27 companies with IPO plans worth ₹38,000 crore have allowed their regulatory approvals to lapse, according to Prime Database numbers. Similarly, the permissions to another nine firms planning to raise a total of ₹15,000 crore are set to expire over the next two months.

The company, ICICI Securities and JM Financial, did not respond to ET's queries. In 2018, Oman India Joint Investment Fund invested $24 million or ₹170 crore in the company for a 26% stake.

Cyient DLM focuses on highly complex, low-volume electronics manufacturing for safety-critical segments. The company had last year appointed Anthony Montalbano as its CEO.

Adani Enterprises late November announced the initiation of a much-awaited follow-on public offer (FPO) to raise as much as ₹20,000 crore ($2.5 billion) from retail and institutional investors, riding piggyback on the meteoric 18-fold jump in its stock prices in the last five years. This will be the largest such issuance in India to date.

For a developing country such as India, Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the wheels that turn the economy, and SMEs contribute to one-third of India's GDP. The SMEs have played an essential role in India's socio-economic development and in globally developed countries such as Germany. In fact, SMEs generate 54.4% of overall value added in Germany and 63.7% of overall employment in the German non-financial business economy.

Proceeds from the fresh issue will be used for investment in its material subsidiary BDJ Oxides. It will use Rs 45 crore in repayment of borrowings availed by its arm, Rs 5.31 crore will be used for setting up a Research & Development centre, Rs 65 crore will be used to fund the long-term working capital requirements of its material arm.

He said setting right expectations, being transparent and not overselling are great ways to reduce the volatility of the stock price pre and post-IPO. "Doing this well can make shareholders feel like owners & help reduce customer acquisition costs, the biggest cost for B2C businesses."

Shares of the cash logistics player closed at ₹106.50, a 13% premium to the issue price. This is the first IPO to close above the offer price on listing day in the past six issues.

The quota for retailers was subscribed 39.78 times whereas the portion for non-institutional investors fetched 33.94 times bids, and the allocation for qualified institutional bidders was booked 2.40 times.

The company had filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with Sebi in September 2021 and is aiming to raise Rs 8,430 crore

The company is selling its shares in the range of Rs 61-65 apiece between December 30 and January 4, in a lot size of 230 equity shares

Pranav Haldea, Managing Director, PRIME Database, said the momentum seen in the last 2 months of 2022 is likely to continue, at least for the smaller-sized IPOs. However, it may be a while before we see larger-sized deals, especially in light of the lack of sustained interest from FPIs, he said.

Overall, 40 Indian corporates raised Rs 59,412 crore through main board IPOs in calendar year 2022, half of the Rs 1,18,723 crore (all-time high) mobilized by 63 IPOs in 2021, according to the database. According to Pranav Haldea, Managing Director, PRIME Database Group, Rs 20,557 crore or a huge 35% of the amount raised in 2022 was by LIC alone.

In the past two years, several large FMCG companies, such as HUL, ITC, Marico, Emami, Reckitt, Wipro Consumer and Colgate Palmolive, have picked up stakes in DTC digital-led startups that garnered popularity among consumers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Going by the draft papers, the firm may explore a pre-IPO placement aggregating to Rs 15 crore. If such a placement is undertaken, the size of the fresh issue will be reduced.Proceeds from the issue worth Rs 59.50 crore will be utilised towards financing the expansion of its manufacturing facility in Nashik and for general corporate purposes.

Reliance Securities said while the company has a quality product mix, strong customer base across geographies and industries, good financials and a wide product portfolio, the issue seems pricey based on the current financials.

Oyo has been asked to update information such as updated risk factors, key performance indicators (KPIs), outstanding litigations and basis for valuation, the people cited above said.

Incorporated in the year 1992, Sah Polymers is a leading PP woven bags manufacturer and exporter of PP woven bags and HDPE box bags, flexible intermediate bulk containers (FIBCs), and BOPP laminated bags.

The stock closed at ₹364 apiece on the BSE, down 0.55% from its IPO price of ₹366. The stock touched a high of ₹372.40 and a low of ₹351.10 during Thursday's trading. Analysts are advising short-term investors, who bet on KFin Tech's public issue, to book profits and re-enter after a clear trend emerges.

The OFS will see the sale of shares to the tune of Rs 544.41 crore by Vijaykumar Raghunandanprasad Agrawal, Rs 212.41 crore by Nimai Vijay Agrawal and Rs 43.18 crore by Prabha Vijay Agarwal.Going by the draft papers, the company may explore a pre-IPO placement. If such a placement is undertaken, the size of the fresh issue will be reduced.

The grey market data available for the stock for the past 14 sessions indicates a weak-to-modest listing for the stock. The stock has been trading at a discount for the past three sessions.For the last 14 sessions, the grey market premium or GMP for Elin Electronics has moved from a high of Rs 48 on 20 December to a discount of Rs 8 on 26 December. For the last three consecutive days, the GMP has been in the negative zone.

However, on the positive side, some stocks are trading well above their issue price. Stocks such as Venus Pipes & Tubes and Adani Wilmar turned out to be multi-baggers, surging anywhere between 100% and 150% in 2022.

The susceptibility of capital flows and currency markets to relative growth performance has intensified

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 46.44 points, or 0.14%, at the open to 34,039.60

For Adani Enterprises, the maximum open interest build-up is seen at Rs 2,200 put strike and Rs 3,000 call strike. For Adani Ports, the maximum open interest build-up is seen at Rs 450 put strike and Rs 700 and Rs 600 call strike prices. Open interest in the February futures contract of Adani Enterprises increased by 8% and by 5.1% on Adani Ports

The Indian government is in touch with the market regulator SEBI regarding th allegations made by a U.S. short seller last weekthat cast doubts on Adani Group's business practices, a senior government source told Reuters on Wednesday.

Recent economic reports suggest price pressures are easing and growth is cooling – all signs that the US economy is responding to the Fed’s aggressive rate increases as policymakers work to tame inflation. But a still-tight labor market could add more pressure on the Fed to extend its tightening campaign or hold rates at restrictive levels for longer.

The company clocked a 32% increase in the revenue from operations at Rs 4,148 crore during the October-December 2022 period, which stood at Rs 3,141 crore in the year-ago period. The total expenses of the firm spiked 24.14% YoY to Rs 3,560 crore in Q3

"The government has only been an enabler and if you look at all the digital stack which is being talked about all over the world, that is actually one of the biggest enablers in terms of the investors being able to participate so seamlessly. If you look at all the announcements that have happened about the digital transaction and about the fintechs, the way they can actually participate, there is going to be a single source of all the information from where the digital enablement will happen."

The PCR ratio for the near week expiry stands at 0.54 and for the next week expiry at 0.68. The overall writing data suggests negative bias as Call writing is higher than Put writing. The immediate or temporary bounce back cannot be ruled out as PCR ratio drops near to 0.50 levels, said analysts

“The sentiments of retail is also sour for whatever has happened in the last couple of days and to that extent, India's local micro setup, which is more to do with flows as well as sentiment, which are a little bit on the downtick and which perhaps is the reason why despite a reasonably strong sort of Budget for all sort of audiences, even bond markets are down 6-7 basis point.”

Defence stocks ended the day down between 4-9% even as the defence budget was increased to Rs 5.94 lakh crore for 2023-24. >> For more such web stories click on the ET icon below

The brokerage expects AUM growth of 16.4% (from 14.7% in FY22) to Rs 7.2 lakh crore. With more than 4.5% QoQ growth in individual AUM, it expects HDFC to register >20% YoY growth while non-individual loans will also see positive low-single digit growth YoY.

"If we want these corrections to be more limited, if we want the Budget to be celebrated in the way it should be, we will need a degree of clearing the air statements from our regulator. Because of the point of view out there, every foreign investor I have spoken to in the last seven days, India has to stand up and India's institutions have to stand up and give us comfort on governance."

The fees are equivalent to around 0.5% of the 200 billion rupees raised in Adani Enterprises Ltd.’s offering, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private.

The defence sector saw a decline in stock prices on Wednesday as the government allocated less money to the sector in its budget than it did in the previous year. The outlay for the defence sector in FY24 is Rs 4.3 lakh crore, an increase of just 5.5%. In FY23, the defence ministry was allocated Rs 5.25 lakh crore, which was 13.31% of the total Budget

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed up 158.18 points at 59708.08

It is an extremely well-balanced Budget focussed on growth driven by capital expenditure while giving an adequate push to rural welfare and agriculture. The Budget has delivered on all the expectations very well. In the short term, we expect the markets to move higher on the back of pro-growth measures announced and less fear of the government crowding out private investments due to fiscal prudence shown by the government

With a year to go for national polls, it’s crucial for Modi to tackle the issues of high unemployment and inflation as he seeks to win a third consecutive term. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman focused on farmers, so-called backward castes and women to deal with the inequities exacerbated by the pandemic.

“This Budget is all about MSMEs. MSME means banking growth and consumption and we have got relief for all types of tax brackets and could not have asked for more. There’s capex push with Rs 7.5 lakh crore becoming Rs 10 lakh crore. Markets are going to take a day or so. Next week onwards, 18,500 is on the cards.”

After the Union Budget 2023 was tabled in the Parliament today, Benchmark indices rallied over 1,200 points before erasing gains to settle on a mixed note. >> For more such web stories click on the ET icon below

The Nifty IT index closed 0.93 per cent up at 30018.25.

The Nifty Auto index closed 0.88 per cent down at 13206.85.

On Tuesday, the rupee depreciated by 36 paise to close at a three-week low of 81.88 against the US dollar after the Economic Survey 2022-23 said the domestic unit may remain under pressure on account of plateauing of exports and subsequent widening of the current account deficit

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed up 158.18 points at 59708.08

The Nifty Bank index closed 0.35 per cent down at 40513.0.

The Nifty Realty index closed 0.94 per cent down at 407.7.

“Credible numbers are giving confidence that the Budget presented by the FM is reliable, steady & growth-oriented. The estimates are fairly conservative. 6.5% real GDP growth, some amount of inflation and tax buoyancy, 11-11.5% revenue estimates looks fairly conservative just like last year. The divestment targets which are set, can easily be achieved.”

Adani Ent., Adani Ports SEZ, HDFC Life, SBI Life and Bajaj Finserv were among the top losers on NSE in today's trade.

Operating profit rose 55% year-on-year to Rs 760 crore

In the Nifty pack, 23 stocks closed in the green, while 27 stocks ended in the red.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed up 158.18 points at 59708.08

The Budget gives more money to consumers which means more consumption. Capex is clearly good and higher GDP growth is very positive for banks as well and of course, it does not impact the IT sector. I mean that is the very nature of it. I think broadly this budget is positive for all," Jain said

The Nifty Pharma index closed 0.04 per cent down at 12355.8.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed up 158.18 points at 59708.08

Had it not been for Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports, both of which are part of Nifty and not Sensex, weighing down the 50-share barometer, the index too would have ended on a positive note. Adani Enterprises, which ended 26.7% lower on NSE, contributed 49 points to the index's downfall. On the other hand, Adani Ports which ended 17.7% lower contributed another 18.6 points.

Chaman Metallics Ltd., Manaksia Ltd, Apar Industries, Upsurge Seeds of Agriculture Ltd. and Ascom Leasing & Inve, hit their fresh 52-week highs during the day.

“FII exodus has come out of the relative valuation of India versus the world and this Budget was not something that could have completely changed sentiment because the government has to do fiscal consolidation. They have to stimulate growth and they have done both. This is the reason why the immediate reaction has been positive but the Budget cannot change market valuations.”

The NSE Nifty index closed 45.85 points down at 17616.3

The NSE Nifty index closed 45.85 points down at 17616.3

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed up 158.18 points at 59708.08

“The rural demand this year so far has been slightly higher than urban demand. The growth of retail in rural is about 24% compared to 22% for the urban areas. Going forward, these measures should pull up Maruti Suzuki’s sales in rural areas. It is already 44% of our portfolio.”

From the Sensex pack, ICICI Bank and Tata steel were the top gainers, rising over 2%. ITC, HDFC Bank, L&T, TCS, HDFC and Kotak Bank closed with gains

Adani stocks came under pressure after global investment banker Credit Suisse assigned zero lending value for bonds sold by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Green Energy and Adani Electricity Mumbai. It has stopped accepting bonds of Adani companies as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients following allegations made in Hindenburg report, Bloomberg said.

Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget announcements cheered Dalal Street bulls and analysts alike as most of them see it as delivering on all fronts. >> For more such web stories click on the ET icon below

In the US, that makes sense as it's the beginning of their financial year and all sellers who squared off positions last December to book profits or set-off losses (for tax savings), turn to buyers. Conversely, India with a financial year ending in March, doesn't exhibit a similar trend in March to April period.