Mumbai, Feb 27, 2026, 22:46 IST — The market is shut.
Indian equities slumped on Friday, with the Sensex shedding 961.42 points (1.17%) to settle at 81,287.19. The Nifty 50 tumbled 317.90 points, or 1.25%, ending at 25,178.65. Realty, metal, and FMCG names bore the brunt, while IT and consumer durables managed to close higher. 1
Nifty ended February down 0.6%, with the Sensex losing 1.2%—that’s three straight months in the red. IT names pulled the index lower. The Nifty IT index plunged 19.5%, a collapse not seen since September 2008. The trigger: U.S. tech players like Anthropic and Palantir pushed out new AI automation tools, spooking investors about the future for Indian outsourcing and putting pressure on earnings. “There is a cloud of uncertainty” around profitability, Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president of retail equities at SMC Global, told Reuters. Still, December-quarter profits improved (Nifty 50 up 7.5% year-on-year; BSE 500 up 16%), and certain trade headlines supported other sectors. 2
After the bell, new official figures revealed the economy expanded 7.8% for October-December, based on a revised GDP series that now uses 2022-23 as its base year for historical comparisons. Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran is projecting 7%-7.4% growth for 2026/27. DBS Bank economist Radhika Rao called out “strong lift” in services along with double-digit gains in manufacturing. Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ICRA, expects the Reserve Bank of India to hold steady, even as inflation ticks up for a spell. 3
Financials and realty names took the hardest hits Friday—ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, and Mahindra & Mahindra all landed among the top laggards. Vinod Nair, who heads research at Geojit Investments, flagged soft global sentiment and geopolitical jitters. Ongoing U.S.–Iran negotiations stalling hasn’t helped, and there’s still plenty of uncertainty hanging over anything AI-related. 4
The rupee ended February up about 1%, its first monthly gain since April 2025, but edged down Friday to 90.9750 per dollar. Early in the month, portfolio inflows lent support. According to traders, RBI stepped in to prevent the currency from breaching 91 amid shaky equities. Foreign investors snapped up over $2.5 billion in Indian shares through February. Dealers are now eyeing March to see if the rupee’s usual seasonal strength emerges. 5
Bankers are looking for the central bank’s extra liquidity support to taper off after March, with the cash surplus already dragging the call rate down to roughly 5%—that’s under the RBI’s 5.25% repo rate. “The RBI’s stealth easing has been particularly effective,” said Mandar Pitale, who runs treasury at SBM Bank (India). He expects the central bank to stick with this tact through March. Liquidity typically gets squeezed that month as tax payments and year-end balance-sheet moves hit. 6
Bond yields pulled back at the close of February as excess liquidity cushioned the market ahead of what’s set to be a record year for government borrowing. The benchmark 6.48% 2035 bond settled at 6.6603% on Friday, retreating from 6.6943% the previous session. Abhishek Bisen, who oversees fixed income at Kotak Mutual Fund, called the long end “reasonable value” for investors with the appetite—and patience—for higher risk. 7
Yet a bottom has yet to materialize for IT stocks, a sector that exerts heavy influence over the broader index thanks to giants like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro. “Uncertainty in IT is being driven by fears of AI-led disruption, something unprecedented, with no real reference point,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research for wealth management at Motilal Oswal Financial. He pointed out the market is still looking for new catalysts before any meaningful, sustained move. 8
The statistics ministry has rolled out a fresh set of annual and quarterly GDP figures, now benchmarked to 2022-23 instead of the 2011-12 base year. That switch reflects efforts to better capture changes in the economy’s structure. 9
Once markets open Monday, attention shifts to details in the GDP overhaul and fresh data at the start of the month. First up: the final February manufacturing PMI, a key business sentiment indicator, plus January industrial production arriving March 2. Then, by March 4, final readings on both services and composite PMIs land. 10
