Indian state-owned banks slide as investors parse federal budget

Indian state-owned banks experienced a significant decline, with the Nifty Public Sector Bank index falling 4.7%, marking the largest drop among major sectoral indexes. The blue-chip Nifty 50 index also decreased by 1.4%. Following the federal budget presentation by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda were the biggest losers, down 7% and 6%, respectively. UCO Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank saw smaller declines of 2% and 2.7%. All 12 members of the sub-index were in the red, despite a 5.7% rise in January.