The stock market closed flat as Sensex climbed 158.18 points to end at 59,708.08, while Nifty dips 45.85 points to end at 17,616.30, even as the euphoria around Budget-2023 fizzled out.
The market had responded positively to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's presentation of the Union Budget on Wednesday, 1 February, with Sensex jumping 1,100 points to 60,652.92; while Nifty climbs 263.30 points to 17,925.45.
The highlight of the Budget was FM Sitharaman announced that those earning an income of up to Rs 7 lakh will be exempted from paying the income tax under the New Tax Regime.
She also added that the New Tax Regime will be the default regime and updated the tax slabs in the new regime.
Read more about the tax slabs here.
"A well-tuned budget with strong emphasis on consumption and capex has lifted optimism in the market; however, volatility sparked in the latter half as focus shifted back to the Adani saga and FOMC meeting.
"Life insurance players witnessed heavy selling as the budget pushed for the new tax regime, making insurance products less appealing as a tax-saving tool," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, told news agency PTI.
Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2023-2024 on Wednesday in the Lok Sabha. This is going to be the last full Budget of the Modi 2.0 government.
The Budget comes at a time when the global economy is crawling out of the slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, both of which disrupted the global supply chain, leading to a rise in commodity prices.
It will be watched closely for any policy-driven measures to rein in inflation as well as changes in income tax slabs to ease the burden on the common man's pocket.
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