A sharp fall in Adani Group stocks erased the stupendous gains of Budget announcements by FM Nirmala Sitharaman. Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty had gained nearly 2 per cent as Sitharaman raised the rebate limit for personal income tax to ₹7 lakh from ₹5 lakh, a move that can lead to a consumption boom. She also introduced a few new exemptions for the salaried class.

During the day, Sensex had gained nearly 1,000 points and Nifty around 350 points. But at the market closing, Sensex was up only 158 points or 0.27 percent. Nifty closed lower by 45 points or 0.26 per cent at 17,616. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers to the tune of ₹1,785 crore in the cash segment. Domestic institutional investors were net buyers of ₹529 crore, according to provisional figures.

Adani stocks continued their downward slide, with Adani Enterprises falling 26 per cent and Adani Ports down 17 per cent. ITC, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Britannia were among the top gainers in today’s session. Despite the fact that the ₹20,000-crore FPO of Adani Enterprises got fully subscribed on January 31, the price of Adani stocks took a beating as one of Switzerland’s large banks Credit Suisse said it would not accept Adani Group bonds as collateral for loans.

Adani Group was quick to respond that they have no business with Credit Suisse. Intriguingly, Credit Suisse India research had issued an upgrade rating on Adani Ports on January 31, on the reasoning that it had strong asset quality. News reports suggested that Norway’s large sovereign fund offloaded Adani Group stocks in the past few days. 

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