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The Sensex and Nifty, the benchmark equity indices, closed in positive territory on Friday, influenced by favourable global signals following the interim Budget presented on February 1. The S&P BSE Sensex concluded the day with a gain of 440 points, reaching 72,086. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty50 achieved a new peak at 22,127 and ultimately settled at 21,854, marking a rise of 156 points.

“The bull market at Dalal Street is thriving, fuelled by positive developments such as Wall Street’s surge, a 3 per cent drop in WTI oil prices, and the promising interim Union Budget,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

On Friday, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra stated that the government expects the average monthly GST collections for the upcoming fiscal year to rise to nearly Rs 1.85 lakh crore, compared to this year’s collection of approximately Rs 1.66 lakh crore.

Nitin Gupta, the Chief of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), revealed on Friday that the Income Tax department has collected close to Rs 4,600 crore in taxes through 56 lakh updated Income Tax returns submitted by taxpayers in the last two years.

“We are continuously improving the services and creating litigation free environment. We have come out with a facility for updation of return. 56 lakh updated returns updated and garnered around Rs 4,600 crore taxes from that,” said Gupta in a post-Budget media interaction.

Reliance Power, State Bank of India, IBL Finance and more companies are expected to announce results for their third quarter for the financial year 2023-24 over the weekend. In addition, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is scheduled to have its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in the upcoming week.