Indian shares fell 1.21 percent on Thursday on a sell-off by overseas funds and fresh concerns about the US economy, dealers said. The benchmark 30-share Sensex index fell 110.97 points to 9,090.88. "The markets slipped sharply intraday morning on weakening global markets and sustained selling from overseas funds," said Alex Mathew, head of research with brokerage Geojit Financial Services.
Key software stocks fell for the second day after a top industry lobby group forecast India's flagship software industry would grow by a lower-than-expected 16-17 percent in the year to March. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) on Wednesday has said that India's software export revenues were set to grow by 16-17 percent to 47 billion dollars by March-end.
NASSCOM had originally projected revenue growth for the current year to March of 21-24 percent. Shares in fraud-hit Satyam fell 7.85 percent or 3.85 rupees to 46.2, as India's market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) continued to quiz the company's founder B. Ramalinga Raju over a billion-dollar accounting fraud.
In Thursday's trade, losers led gainers 1,459 to 1,001 on turnover of 25.8 billion rupees (528 million dollars). India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) fell 16.3 rupees or 3.27 percent to 482.75, reacting to NASSCOM's lower export revenue forecast for the software industry. India's third largest software exporter Wipro fell 4.25 rupees or 1.9 percent to 219.7.