Markets tumble as India-Pak conflict flares up; Sensex, Nifty tank over 1 pc
Mumbai, May 9 (PTI): Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled over 1 per cent each on Friday as tensions soared between India and Pakistan, fuelling fears of a wider conflict.
Besides, steep losses in realty, financial and utility stocks also dented investor sentiments, traders said.
Extending its previous day's decline, the 30-share BSE benchmark gauge tanked 880.34 points or 1.10 per cent to settle at 79,454.47, in a largely range-bound trading.
As many as 2,522 stocks declined while 1,343 advanced and 145 remained unchanged on the BSE.
The NSE Nifty dropped 265.80 points or 1.10 per cent to 24,008.
India on Thursday night swiftly thwarted Pakistan's fresh attempts to strike military sites with drones and missiles, including in Jammu and Pathankot, after foiling similar bids at 15 places in northern and western regions of the country as tensions soared between the two countries.
The Indian armed forces on Wednesday had carried out precise missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan under 'Operation Sindoor'.
"A conflict was anticipated, but the market was not expecting the situation to intensify, raising concerns about its duration. However, it is still projected to be a short-lived confrontation, given the strategic advantage and the opponent’s weak economic standing.
"Interestingly, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued to invest in the Indian market until yesterday, while retail investors remain slightly cautious at the moment," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
From the Sensex firms, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, Adani Ports, Mahindra & Mahindra and NTPC were among the laggards.
Titan Company climbed over 4 per cent higher after the Tata group firm reported a 13 per cent increase in its consolidated profit after tax at Rs 871 crore in the March quarter, driven by robust sales.
Larsen & Toubro jumped nearly 4 per cent after the firm reported a 25 per cent increase in consolidated profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 5,497 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, supported by higher revenues and an exceptional gain.
In contrast, Tata Motors, State Bank of India and Asian Paints were among the gainers.
On the weekly front, the BSE benchmark dropped 1,047.52 points or 1.30 per cent, and the Nifty declined 338.7 points or 1.39 per cent.
"Benchmark indices extended their downward trajectory for the second consecutive session on May 9, as heightened geopolitical tensions overshadowed otherwise constructive global cues. On a weekly basis, both the Sensex and Nifty posted losses exceeding 1 per cent, reflecting broader risk-off sentiment," according to Bajaj Broking Research.
The BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.30 per cent, and the midcap index dipped 0.10 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, realty tanked 2.08 per cent, utilities (1.50 per cent), financial services (1.40 per cent), power (1.11 per cent), Bankex (1.04 per cent), FMCG (0.65 per cent) and services (0.63 per cent).
Capital Goods jumped 1.67 per cent, industrials (1.10 per cent), consumer durables (1.29 per cent) and metal (0.17 per cent).
"Markets came under pressure as geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan intensified," Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,007.96 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi and Shanghai's SSE Composite index settled lower, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended in the green.
European markets were trading higher.
US markets ended in positive territory on Thursday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.53 per cent to USD 63.80 a barrel.
"...defence-related stocks like Bharat Electronics and Hindustan Aeronautics outperformed, gaining on expectations of increased defence spending.
"Looking ahead, elevated geopolitical risks have significantly heightened market volatility, as reflected in the surge of the India VIX. Investors are advised to adopt a stock-specific approach and refrain from taking aggressive positions until there is more clarity," Mishra said.
On Thursday, the BSE Sensex declined by 411.97 points or 0.51 per cent to settle at 80,334.81. The Nifty ended lower by 140.60 points or 0.58 per cent at 24,273.80.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Modi govt rattled by Rahul’s Great Nicobar visit; project concerns need Parliament debate: Cong
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Sunday flagged in detail concerns related to ecology, tribal rights, transparency and security, over the Great Nicobar project, and asserted that these considerations must be debated in a parliamentary forum.
The opposition party claimed that the Modi government is "rattled" and in damage control mode after Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's visit to Great Nicobar last week.
In a statement, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "The Modi Government, clearly in damage control mode after the hugely impactful visit of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to Great Nicobar on April 28 2026, issued a press note on the Great Nicobar Island Development Project three days later."
This press note does not address any of the serious concerns that have been raised on it by local affected communities, environmentalists, anthropologists, academics, civil society experts and other professionals, Ramesh said.
"These concerns had already been conveyed in detail by me to the Union Minister of Environment, Forests & Climate Change on September 10, 2024 and in a follow-up on September 27, 2024," the former environment minister said.
During his visit to Great Nicobar, Gandhi last week alleged that the Great Nicobar project at Campbell Bay in Andaman and Nicobar Islands was "one of the biggest scams and gravest crimes against the natural and tribal heritage of the country".
The government on May 1 released a detailed statement with answers to FAQs (frequently asked questions).
"The Great Nicobar Project is a strategic initiative to strengthen India's presence in the Andaman Sea. It seeks to balance port-led growth with calibrated environmental safeguards. Protection of indigenous communities remains central to its planning," the government statement had said.
"The project combines strategic, economic, and ecological priorities. This ensures that development is sustainable, inclusive, and aligned with national interests," it had said.
In his four-page detailed statement, Ramesh spelt out the key concerns over the Great Nicobar project.
Flagging ecological concerns, Ramesh said the Great Nicobar is unique and distinctly different from all other islands in the Andaman and Nicobar group.
"The Government's claim that only 1.82% of the total land of the island group is being used for the project is irrelevant and misleading. It ignores the ecological and biological richness of the Great Nicobar ecosystem, which is unique both in the island group and in the world," he said.
"Galathea Bay, the site of the port, is unequivocally a Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) is a site where port construction is not allowed. As per records of the Zoological Survey of India, Galathea Bay is home to more than 20,000 coral colonies, a key marker of a CRZ-1a categorisation. Similarly, the beach here is the most important nesting site of the Giant Leatherback turtle in the Northern Indian Ocean," Ramesh said.
The recently concluded turtle nesting season saw record turtle nesting at Galathea Bay, he pointed out.
Ramesh alleged that institutions like the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) were literally coerced to play a key role in the environmental clearance and related process for the project.
"These very institutions have now been awarded projects for biodiversity research and monitoring in Great Nicobar. There is a clear conflict of interest here," he argued.
In addition, a couple of reputed and independent-minded institutions that have been very critical of the project have been blacklisted by the Modi government, he said.
Similar is the case with the high-powered committee (HPC) constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in the matter of the challenge to the project's environmental clearance granted, he said.
All the HPC's members either represented the project proponents or agencies which granted the clearances, Ramesh said.
He said the proposal for compensatory afforestation in Haryana is a travesty of ecological principles.
Flagging tribal rights concerns, Ramesh said the Nicobarese Tribal community has expressed concerns multiple times about the project and its impact on their forests, rights, and way of life.
"In November 2022, they withdrew the NoC they had granted for forest diversion saying that they were rushed to sign by concealing the extent of tribal areas to be affected by the project. Representatives of the Nicobarese community also stated in a recent press conference that they were being forced to voluntarily surrender their land for the project," he pointed out.
The claims stand even more exposed in the matter of the Shompen, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG), that lives a life of hunting and gathering in the deep forests of Great Nicobar, Ramesh said.
The Shompen are a primarily uncontacted community and there are no non-Shompen speakers of their language, he pointed out.
"It is not clear then how the project authorities have taken their informed consent, which is both ethically appropriate and legally mandated," Ramesh said.
Pointing out that government release has claimed that the airport in Great Nicobar will eventually handle 10 million passengers annually, Ramesh said this appears prima facie to be a huge over-estimation given that the current airport at Port Blair handles 1.8 million passengers annually.
"The deliberations of the Forest Advisory Committee for granting the project's forest clearance were not made public. The report submitted by the High-Powered Committee that examined the clearance granted to the project was kept confidential. The field report prepared by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) that pronounced the status of the site of the port from CRZ-1A to CRZ-1B overnight, remains confidential," he pointed out.
Ramesh also flagged security concerns about the project, saying no less a person than the courageous former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) himself has argued in an article that "the security capabilities of ANC (Andaman & Nicobar Command) need to be addressed separately and must have no linkage with the developments contemplated for GNI (Great Nicobar Island)."
"There is thus no need to link India's legitimate security imperatives with the so-called 'development project' - complete with a township, high-end tourist infrastructure, and large transshipment terminal - that the Modi Government is intent on bulldozing through and on which it is now trying to muzzle genuine and much-needed debate hiding behind "security considerations", he said.
"These considerations must, at the very least, be discussed and debated in a Parliamentary forum," Ramesh said.
