Sensex, Nifty extend opening gains to trade firm in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made an optimistic start on Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street as well as broadly positive cues from Asian counterparts, as traders continued to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. Sensex and Nifty soon extended their gains and are trading firm in early deals. Some support came with Commerce Ministry data showing that India’s trade deficit in February narrowed to $14.05 billion as the country's imports reduced to $50.96 billion in February. India’s overall exports stood at $71.95 billion in February 2025, declining from $74.97 billion in January 2025. Imports witnessed a sharper decline, dropping to $50.96 billion from $60.92 billion in February 2024. Traders took note of report that Indian Rupee opened strong at 86.76/$ despite persistent FPI selling. 

On the sectoral front, banking stocks are in focus as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said banks have written off non-performing assets (NPAs) worth approximately Rs 16.35 lakh crore over the past 10 financial years. In stock specific development, HUL traded higher after CCI nod for deal to buy Minimalist brand's parent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74712.12, up by 542.17 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 74480.15 and 74801.57. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.02%, while Small cap index was up by 1.61%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.87%, Industrials up by 1.40%, Consumer Disc up by 1.34%, Capital Goods up by 1.15% and Metal up by 1.12%, while there were no losers on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 2.58%, Zomato up by 2.13%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.25%, Tata Motors up by 1.21% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.54%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.47% and Reliance Industries down by 0.11% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, the government data has showed that net direct tax collection grew 13.13 per cent to over Rs 21.26 lakh crore so far (till March 16, 2025) this fiscal aided by higher advance tax mop up. During the year, the government collected Rs 10.44 lakh crore from four instalments of advance tax as against Rs 9.11 lakh crore in the previous fiscal, registering a growth of 14.62 per cent. The last instalment of the advance tax payment was due on March 15, 2025, for the current financial year.

Advance tax collection under the corporate tax category rose by 12.54 per cent to Rs 7.57 lakh crore while non-corporates witnessed a growth rate of 20.47 per cent to Rs 2.87 lakh crore during the financial year. An individual whose estimated tax liability is likely to be over Rs 10,000 (after considering tax deducted and collected at source - TDS and TCS) is required to pay advance tax that year, as per Section 208 of the Income-Tax Act. This includes salaried taxpayers. Advance tax is to be paid before the end of the financial year on the income that one would have earned that year. Advance tax is paid in four instalments - June 15, September 15, December 15, and March 15 of the financial year.

As per the data released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), mop up from net non-corporate taxes, which include mainly personal income tax, grew 17 per cent year-on-year to about Rs 11.01 lakh crore. However, net corporate tax collection rose in single digits at 7 per cent to Rs 9.69 lakh crore between April 1, 2024, and March 16, 2025. Net collections from securities transaction tax (STT) surged nearly 56 per cent to Rs 53,095 crore so far this fiscal. Refunds worth more than Rs 4.60 lakh crore were issued during the period as against Rs 3.47 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

Gross direct tax mop up till March 16 grew 16.15 per cent to more than Rs 25.86 lakh crore. In the revised estimates (RE) for the current fiscal, the government has pegged income tax collections at Rs 12.57 lakh crore, up from the budget estimate of Rs 11.87 lakh crore. The collection from STT is pegged at Rs 55,000 crore in this fiscal in RE, higher than the budget estimate (BE) of Rs 37,000 crore. The corporate tax collection target was revised lower at Rs 9.80 lakh crore, down from the budget target of Rs 10.20 lakh crore. In total, the RE pegs direct tax collections at Rs 22.37 lakh crore, higher from Rs 22.07 lakh crore in BE.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22681.05, up by 172.30 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 22599.20 and 22703.40. There were 46 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 2.51%, Hindalco up by 2.18%, Shriram Finance up by 1.71%, Britannia Industries up by 1.69% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.51%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.59%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.47%, BPCL down by 0.43% and ONGC down by 0.40% were the few losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 585.4 points or 1.57% to 37,981.92, Hang Seng jumped 435.21 points or 1.77% to 24,580.78, Taiwan rose added 131.75 points or 0.6% to 22,250.38, Straits Times strengthened 39.49 points or 1.02% to 3,898.85 and Shanghai Composite was up by 3.23 points or 0.09% to 3,429.36. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite plunged 312.72 points or 4.83% to 6,159.23 and KOSPI was down by 0.30 points or 0.01% to 2,610.39.