The Indian benchmark indices extended their gains and are trading nearly three and a half of a per cent higher after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to slash corporate tax for the domestic companies to 22 per cent without exemptions. Sectoral indices led by banks, auto, FMCG, metal gained after FM announced cut in corporate tax rate.

Shaktikanta Das, the RBI Governor stated that the government’s move to cut tax is Bold & Welcome, while decision to cut taxes is highly positive for the Indian economy. There is not oblivious of fiscal impact because of today's steps. He expects July-September GDP to be better due to government spending and today's tax cut takes India closer to the Asian peers.

At 11:26 hours, the SENSEX was trading at 37395.01 up by 1301.54 points or by 3.61 per cent and then NSE Nifty was at 11056.1 up by 351.3 points or by 3.28 per cent. The BSE Sensex touched intraday high of 37421.7 and intraday low of 36085.74 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 11086.75 and intraday low of 10691.

The top gainers of the BSE Sensex were Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (Rs. 6486.20,+9.23%), HDFC Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1180.55,+7.28%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 2702.00,+6.70%), Tata Motors Ltd. (Rs. 60.20,+6.36%), Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (Rs. 552.00,+6.30%), among others.

The top losers of the BSE Sensex were among others.

Among sectors, Bankex index was at 31550.76 up by 1400.46 points or by 4.64%. RBL Bank Ltd. (Rs. 358.00,+7.75%), HDFC Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1180.55,+7.28%), YES Bank Ltd. (Rs. 57.10,+5.45%), ICICI Bank Ltd. (Rs. 407.55,+5.43%), IndusInd Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1349.00,+5.23%),.

On the flip side, IT index was at 15822.55 down by 71.83 points or by 0.46%. 3i Infotech Ltd. (Rs. 2.03,-5.58%), Quick Heal Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 136.60,-3.46%), Rolta India Ltd. (Rs. 5.52,-3.16%), 8K Miles Software Services Ltd. (Rs. 60.00,-2.28%), Intellect Design Arena Ltd. (Rs. 207.90,-0.53%),.

The Market breadth, indicating the overall strength of the market, was weak. On BSE out of total shares traded 2171 , shares advanced were 1439 while 632 shares declined and 100 were unchanged.