India’s benchmark indexes inched lower on Tuesday, dragged by information technology stocks, as caution prevailed following U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments about broader reciprocal tariffs.
The NSE Nifty 50 was 0.25% lower at 23,468.8, while the BSE Sensex fell 0.4% to 77,103.74 as of 10:08 a.m. IST.
Indian markets were closed on Monday for a local holiday.
“Caution lingers among investors with potential U.S. tariff announcements and their economic fallout remaining the key concerns influencing sentiment,” said Krishna Appala, senior research analyst at Capitalmind Research.
Trump on Sunday said reciprocal tariffs due on April 2 will include “all countries” rather than a group of 10 to 15 countries with the biggest trade imbalances, triggering fears that an escalating trade war could lead to a U.S. recession.
IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S., fell 1.8%.
India stocks close fiscal 2025 higher as March gains bail out benchmarks
IT stocks lost 15% in the March quarter and dragged the benchmark Nifty 50 0.5% lower.
“We expect fiscal year 2026 revenue outlook for IT to be in-line to disappointing and we cannot rule out further downside risks to earnings,” analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note.
Barring heavyweight IT and financials, which fell 0.7% on the day, seven of the other 11 major sectors logged gains. Auto stocks rose 1% to top the sectoral gains. The broader small-caps and mid-caps advanced 0.2% each.
Among individual stocks, Vodafone Idea jumped 10% after the Indian government planned to raise its stake in the telecom company to about 48.99% from 22.6% converting outstanding spectrum auction dues into equity.
“Following tariff hikes, Vodafone Idea’s cash generation can fund its capex while conversion of spectrum dues to equity shares takes care of repayments over the forecast period,” said CLSA.
Indian mobile will remain a three private-player market, CLSA added, double upgrading Vodafone to “outperform” rating from “underperform”.
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