New Delhi (PTI): President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday conferred the honorary rank of 'General of Indian Army' on Nepal's Army chief General Ashok Raj Sigdel at a ceremony here.

There has been a tradition of conferring the title of Honorary General on the Army chiefs of Nepal and India since 1950.

The President "conferred the Honorary Rank of General of the Indian Army on Suprabal Janasewashree General Ashok Raj Sigdel, Chief of the Army Staff, Nepali Army, at a special investiture ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan for his commendable military prowess and immeasurable contribution to further fostering Nepal's long and friendly association with India", her office said in a statement.

General Sigdel commenced a significant visit to India on Tuesday, marking a key step in further strengthening defence ties between the two nations.

His visit, which spans from December 11-14, underscores the ongoing efforts to further strengthen and deepen the defence cooperation between Nepal and India.

Nepal's President Ramchandra Paudel had last month conferred the honorary rank of the General of Nepal Army on Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi at a special ceremony in Kathmandu.

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Mumbai, Apr 4 (PTI): Equity benchmarks Sensex on Friday slumped over 900 points to crash below the 76,000 level due to an across-the-board sell-off, tracking weak global markets amid growing global trade war fears.

Besides, a sharp correction in crude prices and a heavy sell-off in market heavyweights Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro and Infosys added to the gloom, analysts said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 930.67 points or 1.22 per cent to settle at 75,364.69. During the day, it plummeted 1,054.81 points or 1.38 per cent to hit an intraday low of 75,240.55.

The broader NSE Nifty declined 345.65 points or 1.49 per cent to close at 22,904.45. In the session, the 50-share benchmark gauge 382.2 points or 1.64 per cent to 22,867.90.

Tata Steel was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, sliding 8.59 per cent, followed by Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharmaceutical, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and NTPC, were the major laggards.

On the other hand, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Nestle India, ICICI Bank, ITC, Asian Paints and Axis Bank were among the gainers.

In broader markets, the BSE midcap gauge plunged 3.08 per cent, while smallcap index declined 3.43 per cent.

"Markets slumped in sync with the crash in global equities with sectors crashing over 2-6 per cent on broad-based selling," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Investors fear Trump's reciprocal tariff policy will fuel recession and drive inflation in the US going ahead and engulf other key economies. A sharp fall in metal and oil stocks is indicating that demand could be hit amid slowdown fears, Tapse added.

In Asian markets, Tokyo and Seoul ended lower. Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets remained closed for the holidays.

European markets were trading lower in the mid-session deals. US markets closed lower in overnight deals on Thursday, witnessing their biggest drop since 2020.

Global oil benchmark Brent Crude slipped 3.26 per cent to USD 67.85 a barrel.

"Crude oil prices plunged after the US President announced heavy reciprocal trade tariffs, triggering fears of slower global demand. A sharp tariff hike on China spooked energy markets, leading to crude oil's biggest single-day fall in three years," Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,806 crore on Thursday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 221.47 crore on a net basis.

On Thursday, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 322.08 points to close at 76,295.36, and the broader NSE Nifty fell 82.25 points to settle at 23,250.10.