Benchmarks trade lower in early deals; GST Council meeting eyed

Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Tuesday tracking weakness in global markets coupled with rising crude oil prices. Markets are trading lower with over half a percent cut each in early deals due to selling in Consumer Durables, Telecom and Realty counters. Investors are eyeing the 47th Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting to begin today. The council is expected to consider rate hikes for a slew of items and steps to check evasion like biometric authentication of high-risk taxpayers. The GST Council will also consider a report of the panel of state ministers headed by Kerala finance minister KN Balagopal on making e-way bill mandatory for intra-state movement of gold above a threshold of Rs 2 lakh. Meanwhile, India and the European Union (EU) resumed negotiations, after a gap of over eight years, for a comprehensive free trade agreement, a move aimed at strengthening economic ties between the two regions.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets are trading lower following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as investors remained cautious, while reassessing the outlook for the interest rate hikes by major central banks amid persistent inflation and a potential recession. Back home, power stocks were in focus as S&P Global Commodity Insights said India is continuing to grapple with a severe and protracted power crisis after a sustained surge in global coal prices in late-2021 was further aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 52805.78, down by 355.50 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 52805.42 and 53023.04. There were 6 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 0.71%, while Small cap index was down by 0.70%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.66%, Energy up by 0.55%, Oil & Gas up by 0.35%, PSU up by 0.01%, while Consumer Durables down by 2.08%, Telecom down by 1.26%, Realty down by 1.18%, IT down by 1.17%, TECK down by 1.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.12%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.78%, Reliance Industries up by 0.67%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.58% and ITC up by 0.37%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 3.42%, Asian Paints down by 3.18%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.92%, Wipro down by 1.74% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.64% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog in its latest report titled 'India's Booming Gig and Platform Economy' has said that the country’s gig workforce is likely to expand to 23.5 million by 2029-30 from 7.7 million in 2020-21, and recommended extending social security measures for such workers and their families in partnership mode as envisaged in Code on Social Security. The report further said gig workers are likely to form 6.7 per cent of the non-agricultural workforce or 4.1 per cent of the total livelihood in India by 2029-30.

Gig workers can be broadly classified into platform and non-platform workers. Platform workers are those whose work is based on online software apps or digital platforms while non-platform gig workers are generally casual wage workers, working part-time or full- time. Gig workers prefer a flexible work schedule, typically with low to middle level of education. Income through gig work is not their primary source of income and they are often holding another regular job.

According to the NITI report, it is estimated that in 2020-21, 7.7 million workers were engaged in the gig economy and they constituted 2.6 per cent of the non-agricultural workforce or 1.5 per cent of the total workforce in India. Similarly, it estimated that there were 6.8 million gig workers in 2019-20, using both principal and subsidiary status, forming 2.4 per cent of the non-farm workforce or 1.3 per cent of the total workers in India. It highlighted that the employment elasticity to GDP growth for gig workers was above one throughout the period 2011-12 to 2019-20, and was always above the overall employment elasticity.

To harness the potential of the gig-platform sector, the report recommended accelerating access to finance through products specifically designed for platform workers, linking self-employed individuals engaged in the business of selling regional and rural cuisine, street food, etc, with platforms to enable them to sell their produce to wider markets in towns and cities. Other recommendations include undertaking a separate enumeration exercise to estimate the size of the gig-platform workforce and collecting information during official enumerations.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 15723.20, down by 108.85 points or 0.69% after trading in a range of 15718.70 and 15792.35. There were 11 stocks advancing against 39 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.08%, ONGC up by 1.84%, Eicher Motors up by 0.76%, BPCL up by 0.71% and Reliance Industries up by 0.60%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 3.48%, Asian Paints down by 3.26%, Adani Ports & SEZ down by 2.32%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.99% and Wipro down by 1.79% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Straits Times fell 8.92 points or 0.28% to 3,128.62, Hang Seng declined 190.41 points or 0.86% to 22,039.11, Taiwan Weighted plunged 132.95 points or 0.86% to 15,415.06, Jakarta Composite lost 40.32 points or -0.57% to 6,975.74 and Shanghai Composite 2.11 points or 0.06% to 3,377.08. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 rose 55.06 points or 0.20% to 26,926.33 and KOSPI was up by 2.06 points or 0.09% to 2,403.98.