Benchmarks sharply pare gains; broader market in red

The domestic equity benchmarks sharply pared gains in afternoon trade. The Nifty was trading below the 17,400 mark. Metals, IT, pharma and FMCG stocks advanced while autos, PSU banks and oil & gas stocks declined.

At 13:22 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 187.88 points or 0.25% to 58,159.13. The Nifty 50 index advanced 36.80 points or 0.21% to 17,376.65.

Sun Pharma (up 5.63%), Tata Steel (up 3.43%), IndusInd Bank (up 3.14%), Ultratech Cement (up 3%) and Britannia (up 2.89%) were the top Nifty gainers.

BPCL (down 4.85%), IOC (down 3.75%), Tata Motors (down 2.51%), SBI (down 2.51%) and SBI Life (down 1.69%) were the top Nifty losers.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.04% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index lost 0.06%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1384 shares rose and 1887 shares fell. A total of 105 shares were unchanged.

Union Budget 2022-23:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday presented the Union Budget 2022-23 in Parliament. In five big infrastructure projects, the government has proposed expanding highways in the country by 25,000 kilometres, allocating Rs 60,000 crore to the Nal se Jal scheme, five river link projects across various states, an a dditional Rs 48,000 crore in the PM housing scheme, and boosting infrastructure development in the North East.

The Finance Minister also announced the auction of 5G spectrum in 2022; proposed setting up 75 digital banking units in 75 districts; announced a national programme for mental health, worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic; and brought virtual currencies like cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens under the tax net.

The government has set fiscal deficit target at 6.4% for FY23. FY23 total expenditure is seen at Rs 39.45 lakh crore. Total receipts other than borrowing seen at Rs 22.84 lakh crore.

The outlay for public capital expenditure has been stepped up sharply by 35.4% from Rs 5.54 lakh crore to Rs 7.50 lakh crore in 2022-23. This outlay will be 2.9% of the GDP. Effective capital expenditure of the central government is estimated at Rs 10.68 lakh crore in 2022-23, about 4.1% of GDP, FM Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Corporate surcharge will be reduced from 12% to 7%, FM said. Alternate Minimum Tax for cooperative societies to be cut to 15%. Proposal will reduce surcharge on cooperative societies to 7%, for those whose income is between Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore.

To provide an opportunity to correct an error, taxpayers can now file an updated return within 2 years from the relevant assessment year.

Both Centre and States govt employees` tax deduction limit to be increased from 10% to 14% to help the social security benefits of state govt employees and bring them at par with the Central govt employees, FM said.

Digital rupee using blockchain and other technologies will be issued by RBI starting 2022-23. This will give a big boost to the economy, Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Meanwhile, FM said that any income from transfer of any virtual digital asset shall be taxed at the rate of 30%. No deduction in respect of any expenditure or allowance shall be allowed while computing such income, except cost of acquisition. 1% TDS will be levied on payments made on transfer of digital assets.

FM said customs duty on cut & polished diamonds, gems to be reduced to 5%.

SEZ Act will be abolished and a new law will be enacted to enhance exports.

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