Indian shares set for worst fiscal since 2020

India's benchmark indexes were on track for their weakest financial-year performance in six years on Monday, battered by a mix of geopolitical shocks, US tariffs and record foreign investor outflows, reports Reuters.
While supportive fiscal and monetary measures boosted the earnings outlook, market sentiment deteriorated sharply toward the fiscal-year end as the Middle East war sent crude prices surging, raising fears over energy supplies, growth and inflation in India, the world's third-largest crude importer.
Benchmarks Nifty 50 and Sensex fell about 4.3 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively, in the fiscal, marking their worst showing since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a global equity rout. India's fiscal year runs April through March. Markets will be shut on March 31, 2026, for a local holiday, making Monday the final session of this fiscal year.
The Nifty and Sensex underperformed other Asian and emerging market peers in fiscal 2026 and are trading at a nearly one-year low levels, while the rupee slid to record lows and bonds fell on elevated crude. The benchmark 10-year bond yield hit 6.97 per cent on Monday, the highest since July 2024. Bond yields move inversely to prices.