Tata Consultancy Services share price tanks 5%; top loser on Sensex, Nifty; here's why

TCS share price: Shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) tanked over 5 per cent on Tuesday on news reports that Tata Sons, the promoter of major operating companies of the Tata group, is planning to raise around Rs 8,200 crore by selling stake in IT major.  The stock slipped as much as 5.46 per cent to Rs 2885.20 on the BSE in an otherwise strong market. The scrip was a top loser on Sensex and Nifty. 

Tata Sons is looking to sell around 2.83 crore shares amounting to about 1.48 per cent stake in TCS and the transaction is likely to be happen this week, reported news agency PTI citing investment banking sources.

When contacted, Tata Sons declined to comment, the report said. 

After the proposed share sale, Tata Sons' holding in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will come down to around 72 per cent from 73.52 per cent as on December, 2017.

Tata Sons intends to use the proceeds from the share sale to reduce debt in the group's telecom arm Tata Teleservices which has debt of around Rs 40,000 crore, the sources told PTI.

Last year in October, Tata Group had agreed to sell its loss-making mobile telephony business to Bharti Airtel on "a debt-free cash-free basis".

Meanwhile, the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty pared all its initial losses to turn in green as the sentiment turned positive following strong macroeconomic data released on Monday  At 10:55 am, the Sensex was trading at 34,007, up 89.26 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,454, up 32.95 points.

Consumer price index (CPI) or retail inflation eased to 4.44 per cent in the month of February 2018, from 5.05 per cent in January 2018, slightly in line with analysts expectations. However, the numbers were higher compared to 3.65 per cent in the corresponding month of the previous year. Industrial output, meanwhile, expanded 7.5 per cent in January, up from 7.1 per cent in December. This is the third straight month that the index of industrial production (IIP) expanded by more than 7 per cent, suggesting economic activity is gaining as the effects of demonetisation and the goods and services tax (GST) fizzle out.