India's 10-year bond yield fell 8 basis points, making its steepest fall in the last eight months, after the government surprised with a lower-than-expected borrowing programme in its Union Budget for FY25. The 10-year bond yield ended at 7.07 percent, down 8 basis points, its maximum fall since May 3, 2023, from its previous close of 7.14 percent.

Private capex is already picking up in India because order books and order backlogs of engineering companies have been growing at a fairly decent pace, said Prashant Jain, of 3P Investments in a conversation with Moneycontrol. His comments come after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman indicated a scaling up of private capex this year. Presenting the Interim Budget on February 1.

India’s seafood exporters welcomed measures for aquaculture announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in the interim budget for FY25 presented in Parliament on February 1. The minister said implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) will be stepped up to enhance aquaculture productivity to 5 tonnes per hectare from the existing 3 tonnes, double exports to Rs 1 lakh.

Markets were down on February 1 after the union government presented the union budget for FY24-25. Sensex was down 106.81 points or 0.15 percent at 71,645.30, and the Nifty was down 28.20 points or 0.13 percent at 21,697.50.About 1,588 shares advanced, 1,929 shares declined and 91 shares remained unchanged. Indian Overseas Bank | CMP Rs 52.1 | Shares of Indian Overseas Bank gained 6 percent.

India's crude oil imports from its top supplier Russia fell for a second straight month in January to their lowest in a year as tighter Western sanctions hit supply of light sweet Sokol grade, preliminary ship tracking data showed. The world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer boosted imports of Iraqi oil to offset the drop in Russian oil imports, according to the data.

India's benchmark equity indices closed in the red with NSE Nifty 50 down 0.13% and S&P BSE Sensex down 0.15%. Nifty Bank was up 0.42%, while media and metal stocks dragged down the indices. Broader indices also closed lower, with midcap stocks being hit the hardest. Meanwhile, bank stocks saw positive momentum. Technical analysts advise caution and focus on quality stocks.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing the government's aim to contain fiscal deficit for the financial year 2024 and pegging the figure for FY25 at 5.1 percent in the Interim Budget are big positives for debt markets and are expected to decline bond yields, say experts. Fiscal deficit for the current year came in at 5.8 percent against 5.9 percent targeted in the last budget.

The cement industry welcomes the Union Budget proposal to develop a cement corridor which would improve logistics and connectivity. Indian Railways will set up three corridors for energy, mineral, and cement and increase fund allocation for housing schemes. Top cement players such as UltraTech, JK Cement, and JSW Cement are members of the industry body CMA.

The Department of Space in India has received a 17.81% increase in budget allocation for the fiscal year 2024-2025. This is significant in light of ISRO's recent success of landing Chandrayaan-3 near the Moon's South Pole and ongoing experimental missions like Aditya L1. The majority of the increased budget is allocated to space technology, with a notable increase for IN-SPACe.

Equity benchmarks the Sensex and Nifty ended with modest losses on February 1 after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Interim Budget 2024-25 which steered clear of big-bang announcements ahead of the General Elections. She did, however, announce some sector-specific initiatives while sticking to the government’s fiscal consolidation roadmap.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted various schemes and measures rolled out by the Union government in her interim budget speech. These include the National Education Policy 2020, PM Schools for Rising India, Skill India Mission, PM Mudra Yojana, Garib Kalyan initiative, PM-SVANidhi, PM-JANMAN Yojana, PM-Vishwakarma Yojana, and others.

The government's fiscal deficit target of 5.1% for FY25 is fairly aggressive and there could be a reduction in capex spends if revenue falls short, according to market expert Shankar Sharma. In the Interim Budget 2024, FM Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to raise capital expenditure — the fourth consecutive year of upward revision — by 11.1% on-year to Rs 11.11 lakh crore, which is 3.4% of the GDP.

The Finance Minister presented the Interim Budget 2024 today. The Interim Budget laid focus on Governance, Development and Performance (GDP), giving a new meaning to the old abbreviation. Though a significant rejig in the direct tax rates and exemptions was in any case not expected, however, the salaried class was still hopeful to receive some benefit from the Interim Budget to reduce the tax.

Shares of housing finance companies jumped up to 18% following Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman’s announcement that the government will launch a scheme for middle-class families to buy a house or build one. In the last Budget speech of the Modi 2.0 government, the FM said the scheme will help deserving sections of the middle class, who are currently living in rented houses or slums.

The 2024-25 Budget was not a pre-election one according to Sonal Varma, Nomura's chief economist for India and Asia ex-Japan. "This was not a pre-election budget. While the budget speech talked a lot about the key voter constituents, it has chosen to prioritise fiscal consolidation," Varma said on February 1 following Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's speech in Parliament.