Markets are not kind to Budgets: Moneycontrol analysis

On July 23, the BSE Sensex closed 73 points lower at 80,429.04.

On July 23, the BSE Sensex closed 73 points lower at 80,429.04 after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the first Budget of the NDA 3.0 government.

It’s difficult for finance ministers to pass the markets muster when it comes to Budgets. A Moneycontrol analysis shows that markets have trended lower after Budget presentation on 13 of the last 18 occasions.

On July 23, the BSE Sensex closed 73 points lower at 80,429.04. The interim Budget in February this year witnessed a 106.8 point dip.

Final budgets post the election seem to be more prone to negative market reactions compared with other times.

In 2019, Nirmala Sitharaman’s July 5 Budget was followed by a 1.19 percent fall in markets within a day, while former finance minister Arun Jaitley had no better luck with markets declining 0.34 percent.

Pranab Mukherjee was worst affected with a 6.14 percent decline in Sensex on July 6, 2009.

But the incumbent FM’s track record is no better than previous one. Nirmala Sitharaman had faced negative reaction from markets in five of her seven budgets, while Arun Jaitley saw the red in four of his five Budgets and Pranab Mukherjee witnessed dips in three of the five budgets.