Sensex, Nifty log massive gains after Modi 2.0 corporate tax cut announcement

Indian equity indices today witnessed a big surge after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to give a boost to the economy ahead of the GST Council meeting on Friday.  BSE's benchmark index Sensex rose over 2,000 points during the day, while NSE's Nifty50 closed 5.32 percent higher at 11,274.20. Automobiles and banking stocks led the rally. Nifty Auto index rose nearly 10 percent, and Nifty bank index was up by over 8 percent. In recent weeks, automobile shares were witnessing downward movement, as these companies were putting up lower sales numbers.

Eicher Motors, HeroMotoCorp, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, and Maruti Suzuki were the Nifty gainers, while information technology (IT) biggies such as Infosys, and TCS shed. Sitharaman announced a Rs 1.45 lakh crore corporate tax cut sop for the corporate sector,  slashing rates to 22 percent for the domestic companies and 15 percent for new domestic manufacturing companies.

The government's move was hailed by the corporate leaders, saying that this will give a much-needed boost to the economy, which is going through tough time due to various factors. Asian shares gained after government across the world economic stimulus announced economic sops to boost the economy.

The government's decision came after data showed that India's gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2020 fell to 5 percent, which is multi-year low number. Corporate leaders say that this will help alleviate the fear of recession.