After opening the day on a positive note, Indian share markets continued their uptrend and ended their day on a positive note. Gains were largely seen in the capital goods sector, banking sector and FMCG sector leading the gains.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 233 points (up 0.7%) and the NSE Nifty closed higher by 76 points (up 0.8%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day up by 0.5%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 0.4%.

Asian stock markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Hang Seng gained 1.1% and the Nikkei stood flat. European markets are trading positively today with shares in London leading the region. The FTSE 100 is up 0.11% while Germany’s DAX is up 0.20% and France’s CAC 40 is up 0.63%. The rupee was trading at 64.43 to the US$ at the time of writing.

Acknowledging the large size of unorganised sector, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has exhorted financial institutions, including Nabard, and banks to step up focus on improving credit flow to unorganised sector and has said that it will help to push employment 

Jaitley pointed out that if the resources of banks and financial institutions through various schemes are diverted towards unorganised sector, it will help create more employment. Regarding the benefits of self-help groups (SHGs), he said they have come a long way and generated lakhs of jobs in rural areas. He further said that since most SHGs are women-led, these have brought in financial security for rural women. He also said it has been observed that SHGs the repayment capacity is much higher with regard to all microfinance schemes.

The Finance Minister said he was hopeful that the Nabard-led initiative of SHG-Bank Linkage Program would further expand in the coming days. Over a span of 25 years, the SHG-Bank linkage program has grown into a massive movement with 8.5 million SHGs across the country now part of this program. The total loan exposure of the banking system to SHGs is about Rs 610 billion. Meanwhile, the credit growth has plunged to a six-decade low of 5.08% in 2016-17 against 10.7% a year ago.