Key gauges remain in red in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lower in morning deals, dragged down by selling in Oil & Gas, Realty and Energy shares and persistent foreign fund outflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,566.51 crore on a net basis on Monday, according to exchange data. Investor sentiments were further dampened after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose higher tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil. Some concern also came as the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) stated that the additional 25 per cent import duty announced by US President Donald Trump on Indian goods could lead to a 30 per cent decline at $60.6 billion in India's exports to America this fiscal (FY26) from $86.5 billion in FY25. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green after a wave of dip buying and optimism about interest-rate cuts helped the S&P 500 post its biggest rally since May.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80692.98, down by 325.74 points or 0.40% after trading in a range of 80558.94 and 81010.49. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.52%, while Small cap index was down by 0.14%.

The lone gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Basic Materials up by 0.02%, while Oil & Gas down by 1.45%, Realty down by 1.23%, Energy down by 1.05%, IT down by 0.76% and FMCG down by 0.66% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 0.84%, Axis Bank up by 0.73%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.59%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.48% and Bajaj Finance up by 0.47%. On the flip side, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.35%, Infosys down by 1.30%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.21%, Reliance Industries down by 0.94% and Eternal down by 0.82% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said that in the last five fiscal years (2020-21 to 2024-25), total GST evasion detected by Central GST (CGST) field officers stood at about Rs 7.08 lakh crore in 91,370 cases. Taxes recovered during the period by way of voluntary deposit stood at over Rs 1.29 lakh crore. The evasion data includes input tax credit (ITC) fraud of about Rs 1.79 lakh crore in 44,938 cases between FY21 to FY25. 

Chaudhary stated in FY25 fiscal alone, over Rs 2.23 lakh crore of Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion were detected by CGST field officers. Of the 30,056 cases of GST evasion detected in FY25, more than half or 15,283 cases pertained to ITC fraud, where the evasion was to the tune of Rs 58,772 crore. In the FY24 fiscal, Rs 2.30 lakh crore worth GST evasion was detected by CGST field officers, involving ITC fraud of Rs 36,374 crore. 

In FY23, about Rs 1.32 lakh crore GST evasion was detected, including Rs 24,140 crore of fake ITC claims. In FY22 and FY21, GST evasion stood at Rs 73,238 crore and Rs 49,384 crore respectively. This included ITC fraud of Rs 28,022 crore and Rs 31,233 crore respectively. Besides, he said the central government and GSTN are taking various steps to prevent tax evasion, such as digitization through E-invoicing, GST analytics, highlighting of outliers based on system-flagged mismatches, providing actionable intelligence and selection of returns for scrutiny and selection of taxpayers for audit based on various risk parameters. He said these measures are helpful in safeguarding the revenue and nabbing the evaders.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24634.80, down by 87.95 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 24593.15 and 24733.10. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 2.11%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.01%, Axis Bank up by 0.83%, Bajaj Finance up by 0.66% and Maruti Suzuki up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 1.44%, Infosys down by 1.27%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.25%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.17% and Reliance Industries down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 236.3 points or 0.59 to 40,527.00, Taiwan Weighted added 201.03 points or 0.86 to 23,579.97, Straits Times rose 19.35 points or 0.46 to 4,216.58, Shanghai Composite strengthened 18.82 points or 0.53 to 3,602.13, Jakarta Composite gained 53.09 points or 0.71 to 7,517.74 and KOSPI increased 44.03 points or 1.4 to 3,191.78.

On the flip side, Hang Seng declined 6.45 points or 0.03 to 24,727.00.