Indian bourses enlarge losses; Banking, Realty drag

Key benchmark indices enlarged their early losses and were trading over 2 percent lower in Monday's morning deals, as rising COVID-19 cases and increased restrictions spooked investors' sentiments. The sentiments remained down-beat with ratings agency Ind-Ra stating that further surge in global commodity prices will have serious implications for India's economy which is still struggling to come out of the Covid-19 impact.  Market participants overlooked the finance ministry's statement that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections remained above the Rs 1-lakh-crore mark for the sixth month in a row in March 2021, rising 27 per cent annually to record Rs 1.23 lakh crore. Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department has issued refunds worth over Rs 2.62 lakh crore to more than 2.38 crore taxpayers in 2020-21. This includes Rs 87,749 crore personal income tax refunds to 2.34 crore taxpayers and Rs 1.74 lakh crore worth corporate tax refunds in 3.46 lakh cases.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green following broadly positive cues from Wall Street on upbeat jobs and manufacturing data. Traders are also upbeat about a stimulus-fuelled global economic recovery after US President Joe Biden's speech regarding his $2 trillion infrastructure and economic recovery plan. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 48909.50, down by 1120.33 points or 2.24% after trading in a range of 48638.62 and 50028.67. There were 3 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 1.65%, while Small cap index was down by 1.78%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.76% and TECK up by 0.46%, while Bankex down by 3.65%, Realty down by 3.43%, PSU down by 2.80%, Auto down by 2.70% and Oil & Gas down by 2.56% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 1.12%, TCS up by 0.58% and HCL Tech. up by 0.57%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 5.56%, Bajaj Finance down by 5.36%, Indusind Bank down by 5.33%, SBI down by 4.45% and ICICI Bank down by 4.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has said that Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections remained above the Rs 1-lakh-crore mark for the sixth month in a row in March 2021, rising 27 per cent annually to record Rs 1.23 lakh crore. Of this, central GST stood at Rs 22,973 crore, state GST at Rs 29,329 crore, integrated GST at Rs 62,842 crore (including Rs 31,097 crore collected on import of goods) and Cess at Rs 8,757 crore (including Rs 935 crore collected on import of goods). GST revenue in March 2020 was Rs 97,590 crore.

The ministry said the steep increasing trend in goods and services tax is a clear indication of rapid economic recovery post pandemic. It also said that closer monitoring against fake-billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, income tax and customs IT systems and effective tax administration have also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue over past few months. During March 2021, revenues from import of goods were 70 percent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction were 17 percent more than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year.

It further said the GST revenues declined 41 per cent and 8 per cent in the June and September quarters, respectively. However, with economic recovery, the mop-up grew 8 per cent and 14 per cent in December and March quarters of this financial year. GST collections, which directly reflect the state of economic activity, had plummeted to a record low of Rs 32,172 crore in April 2020, after the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 14561.05, down by 306.30 points or 2.06% after trading in a range of 14479.30 and 14849.85. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Wipro up by 1.71%, Infosys up by 1.38%, Britannia Industries up by 1.15%, HCL Tech. up by 0.80% and JSW Steel up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 5.49%, Bajaj Finance down by 5.18%, Indusind Bank down by 5.06%, SBI down by 4.30% and ICICI Bank down by 4.10% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 242.41 points or 0.81% to 30,096.41, Straits Times advanced 27.22 points or 0.86% to 3,208.90 and KOSPI rose 2.66 points or 0.09% to 3,115.46.

On the flip side, Jakarta Composite lost 27.70 points or 0.46% to 5,983.76.