By Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks logged their worst session in three months after a U.S. Homeland Security notification confirmed that Washington will impose an additional 25% tariff on all Indian-origin goods from Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Nifty 50 fell 1.02% to 24,712.05 and the BSE Sensex lost 1.04% to 80,786.54.
The benchmarks turned negative for August after Tuesday’s session. They lost about 3% each in July.
Fifteen of the 16 major sectors logged losses, while the small-caps and mid-caps dipped 2% and 1.6%, respectively.
In the currency markets, the Indian rupee continued its losing streak for a fifth consecutive session ahead of the tariffs.
Local markets are closed on Wednesday. Trading will resume on Thursday, a day after the tariffs go into effect.
Indian exports will face U.S. duties of up to 50% – among the highest imposed by Washington – after President Donald Trump announced additional tariffs over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.
Real GDP growth could fall close to 60 basis points if the tariffs are enforced, with engineering goods, auto components, gems and jewellery, marine and textiles among the most exposed sectors, according to brokerages.
Tariff concerns, coupled with muted earnings, have already prompted foreign investors to sell about $2.5 billion in August, the highest outflows since February.
Equities fell on Tuesday “as India-U.S. trade negotiations are unlikely to materialise in the near term and erratic tariff decisions could impact economic growth in the coming quarters,” said Amnish Aggarwal, head of institutional research at PL Capital.
The benchmarks may see some knee-jerk, near-term jitters in the next few sessions as the real economic impact of the tariffs will only be evident after the implementation, he added.
HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank fell about 1% e while Reliance Industries dropped about 2%. They are the top three weighted stocks on the benchmarks.
Consumer stocks were one of the few gainers, rising 0.9%, led by Britannia Industries on expectations of lower goods and services tax on biscuits.
Among individual stocks, Ola Electric gained 4.6% after securing a compliance certificate for its Gen 3 scooter line-up.
Telecom operator Vodafone Idea slumped 9.3% after multiple reports said the government was not considering additional relief on the company’s pending dues.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Sumana Nandy, Janane Venkatraman and Sonia Cheema)
