Hungry Bulls Taste Puny Grains

Two months ago, ahead of the announcement of the Union Budget 2019 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Indian equity markets were on a bull run. The day the Budget was announced, Sensex crossed 40,000 points and it was expected to cross its all-time high of 40,267 points in line with expectations which were set when the Narendra Modi government stormed back to power with a thumping majority. But even before Sitharaman had finished her speech, markets had already reversed their trend and entered a bearish phase, which continues ever since. Despite a mild recovery, the Sensex was down almost 3,000 points (almost 7.5 per cent) in mid-August -- compared to July 5 level when Budget was announced -- while Nifty was down almost 1,000 points (over 7.5 per cent). This prompted to government late in August to announce a series of measures to restore market confidence including withdrawal of...