Domestic benchmark indices fell marginally on Thursday, weighed down by weakness in automobile, metal, and oil stocks. The latest threat of 50 per cent US tariffs on select Indian goods impacted the market amid mixed global cues.

Sensex declined 185 points, or 0.23 per cent to 80,358 while Nifty dipped 54 points or 0.22 per cent to 24,519.

In the Nifty pack, Hero MotoCorp led the gainers’ list, rising 1.27 per cent. followed by Cipla, Trent, Bajaj Finserv and HDFC Bank. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Jio Financial, and State Bank of India were the major losers.

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty metal lost 0.54 per cent, Nifty Auto dipped 0.49 per cent, while Nifty Pharma gained 0.64 per cent.

India on Wednesday reiterated that the latest tariff actions by US President Donald Trump are "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable".

The Indian stock market ended slightly lower after witnessing volatile trading on Wednesday, as investors showed mixed reaction to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.5 per cent.

Morgan Stanley on Wednesday said that in terms of policy response, it sees the likelihood of another rate cut by the RBI in Q4 (likely in October policy) amid headwinds from tariff-related developments.

India's installed solar PV module manufacturing capacity has reached 91.6 GW, according to the approved list of models and manufacturers (ALMM), the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

There are more than 1,700 global capabilities centres (GCCs) currently operating in India, employing more than 19 lakh people, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

The total revenue generated by these GCCs in last 5 years has grown from $40.4 billion in FY19 to $64.6 billion in FY24 with CAGR of 9.8 per cent, Jitin Prasada, Minister of State of Electronics and Information technology, said in a written reply in Lok Sabha, citing National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) data.

GCCs have grown from being support centres for basic tasks to research and development and design hubs, the minister said. Together, these GCCs employ more than 19 lakh people in the country.

Shares of National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) debuted on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday at Rs 880, reflecting a 10 per cent premium, or Rs 80 above the issue price of Rs 800 per share. NSDL's IPO share listing fell short of expectations in the grey market, which had anticipated that the scrips would be listed at a premium of around 16 per cent.

Shortly after listing, the stock reached an intraday high of Rs 920. As of 11.45 A.M., NSDL shares were trading at Rs 913.65, up 33 points or 3.82 per cent from its listing price.

The Rs 4,012 crore IPO saw strong participation from all investor categories. The overall issue was subscribed 41.02 times. Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) led the subscription, oversubscribing 103.97 times, followed by Non-Institutional Investors (NIIs) at 34.98 times and retail investors at 7.76 times.

Following the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision on Wednesday to maintain the repo rate at 5.50 per cent, the benchmark index Nifty 50 experienced a slight decline, falling below the 24,600 resistance level.

The Nifty 50 was trading at 24,569 as of 10.54 am, after an intraday decline of 0.33 per cent, while the Sensex stood at 80,473, down 0.29 per cent. Prior to the Monetary Policy Committee's decision, Nifty and Sensex were down 0.08 per cent and 0.07 per cent, respectively.

Apart from the monetary policy decision, the overarching influence on the market will be US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements, according to experts.

The Nifty IT index extended its losses to a 1.57 per cent decline during the morning hours of trading. Nifty Pharma lost 1.26 per cent and Nifty Realty declined 2.26 per cent.

The RBI on Wednesday retained its forecast for India’s GDP growth at 6.5 per cent for FY 2025-26, despite global uncertainties, as it expects strong rural demand on the back of a good monsoon and robust government expenditure on big ticket infrastructure projects to propel growth.

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said, “The above normal southwest monsoon, lower inflation, rising capacity utilization and congenial financial conditions continue to support domestic economic activity. The supportive monetary, regulatory and fiscal policies including robust government capital expenditure should also boost demand. The services sector is expected to remain buoyant, with sustained growth in construction and trade in the coming months.”

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra announced on Wednesday that the monetary policy committee has decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.5 per cent, while sticking to the “neutral” monetary policy stance.

He said the decision was taken unanimously by the MPC after a detailed assessment of the macroeconomic situation and the growth-inflation dynamics.

A neutral stance requires neither stimulation nor curbs on liquidity as it strikes a fine balance between controlling inflation without hurting growth.

The RBI Governor said that inflation had come down to much lower levels there was still some volatility in food prices, especially vegetables. However, core inflation had remained steady at around 4 per cent.