Indian equity benchmarks made cautious start of new week tracking lackluster trade in Asian counterparts. Markets turned volatile and are struggling for direction ahead of the all-important Fed meet outcome on Wednesday for further direction. Now, markets are trading higher with marginal gains in early deals. Initially, traders were concerned as data from Reserve Bank showed India Inc's investment in their overseas ventures dropped by 59 per cent on an annual basis to $1.03 billion in August this year. Some pessimism also came in as the country's foreign exchange reserves declined by $2.234 billion to stand at $550.871 billion for the week ended September 9. However, some respite came in as the finance ministry said gross direct tax collections grew 30 per cent to Rs 8.36 lakh crore till September 17 of current fiscal year on higher advance tax mop-up buoyed by the economic revival post pandemic. Also, foreign investors pumped Rs 12,000 crore into the Indian equity market so far this month on hopes that global central banks, particularly the US Fed, may go slow on rate hikes as inflation starts to cool off.
Most of the Asian markets are trading lower following the broadly negative cues from global markets on Friday, amid concerns about the outlook for the global economy amid monetary policy tightening by central banks around the world. Traders are cautious while they await the US Fed's monetary policy decision on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, although some see an outside chance for a 100-point rate hike. The Japanese stock market is closed for Old Age Day holiday. Back home, power stocks were in focus as outstanding dues of power distribution companies towards gencos declined sharply to Rs 713.29 crore on September 16 from Rs 5,085.30 crore as of August 17 following a strict action against defaulter utilities. In stock specific development, ONGC gained after the company sought to scrap windfall profit tax levied on domestically produced crude oil from the government.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58990.84, up by 150.05 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 58487.76 and 59004.78. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.
The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.72%, Oil & Gas up by 0.64%, Bankex up by 0.52%, Energy up by 0.51%, Industrials up by 0.41%, while Metal down by 0.56%, Telecom down by 0.50%, Healthcare down by 0.47%, Consumer Durables down by 0.46%, Realty down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.09%, Indusind Bank up by 1.98%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.38%, Infosys up by 1.11% and Axis Bank up by 1.05%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 2.02%, Asian Paints down by 2.01%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.28%, Titan Company down by 1.12% and Tata Steel down by 1.04% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, the finance ministry has said that gross direct tax collections grew 30 per cent to Rs 8.36 lakh crore till September 17 of current fiscal year on higher advance tax mop-up buoyed by the economic revival post pandemic. After adjusting for refunds amounting to Rs 1.35 lakh crore, net direct tax kitty grew 23 per cent to Rs 7 lakh crore. Gross collection of direct taxes for 2022-23 stood at Rs 8,36,225 crore compared to Rs 6,42,287 crore in the year-ago period, registering a growth of 30 per cent. This includes revenue from Corporate Income Tax of Rs 4.36 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT) of Rs 3.98 lakh crore.
The ministry said direct tax collections continue to grow at a robust pace, a clear indicator of the revival of economic activity post pandemic, as also the result of the stable policies of the government, focusing on simplification and streamlining of processes and plugging of tax leakage through effective use of technology. For April-September, advance tax collection grew 17 per cent to Rs 2.95 lakh crore. This includes advance tax payout by corporate taxpayers of Rs 2.29 lakh crore. After adjusting for refunds, net direct tax collections rose 23 per cent to Rs 7,00,669 crore, compared to Rs 5,68,147 crore in the corresponding period of 2021-22.
Refunds amounting to Rs 1,35,556 crore have been issued in 2022-23 till September 17, a 83 per cent growth over the year-ago period. The ministry also said there has been a remarkable increase in the speed of processing of income tax returns filed during current fiscal, with almost 93 per cent of the duly verified ITRs having been processed till 17.09.2022. It added that this has resulted in faster issue of refunds with almost a 468 per cent increase in the number of refunds issued in current financial year.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17581.55, up by 50.70 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 17429.70 and 17594.00. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.11%, Indusind Bank up by 1.90%, ONGC up by 1.71%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.41% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.39%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 2.05%, Cipla down by 1.91%, Asian Paints down by 1.54%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.21% and Titan Company down by 0.98% were the top losers.
Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Straits Times lost 5.40 point or 0.17% to 3,262.89, Hang Seng slipped 182.48 point or 0.97% to 18,579.21, Taiwan Weighted declined 109.75 point or 0.75% to 14,452.01, KOSPI fell 26.53 point or 1.11% to 2,356.25 and Shanghai Composite was down by 4.94 point or 0.16% to 3,121.46, while Jakarta Composite was up by 3.73 point or 0.05% to 7,172.60.
