Market indices tumble after Budget announcements

Equity indices were on a downward swing during afternoon on Saturday as proposals in the Union Budget 2020-21 failed to cheer investors.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced cuts in income tax rates for individuals and scrapping of dividend distribution tax (DDT) besides a host of measures to reverse the falling economic growth.

The S & P BSE Sensex was trading around 40,159-mark, down 563 points, or 1.38 per cent. IDBI Bank share price rose more than 17 percent after the government announced that it will sell its stake in the bank.

The data available on BSE shows that the government held a 47.11 per cent stake in IDBI Bank as of December 31, 2019, while Life Insurance Corporation of India held a 51 per cent stake.

Hindustan Unilever was also up 2 per cent, SBI and Ultratech Cement rose 1 per cent and were the top gainers in the Sensex. While on the other hand, Powergrid, Tech Mahindra, and NTPC were all down by 1 per cent were the top laggards

The broader Nifty50 index was trading near 11,813-mark, down 148 points, or 1.24 per cent at 1:45 pm today.