After opening the day flat, share markets in India witnessed volatile trading activity throughout the day and ended the day in green. Sectoral indices were mixed, with stocks in the IT sector and stocks in the FMCG sector leading the gains.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 212 points (up 0.6%) and the NSE Nifty closed up by 47 points (up 0.4%). The BSE Mid Cap index ended the day down 0.1%, while the BSE Small Cap index ended the day up by 0.3%.

Asian stock markets finished mixed. As of the most recent closing prices, the Hang Seng was down by 1% and the Shanghai Composite was down by 1.4%. The Nikkei 225 was up by 0.3%. Meanwhile, European markets were trading in green. The FTSE 100 was up by 0.2%, The DAX, was up by 0.1% while the CAC 40 was up by 0.4%.

The rupee was trading at Rs 66.80 against the US$ in the afternoon session. Oil prices were trading at US$ 68.31 at the time of writing.

In news about the economy. Global accounting and consulting firm, Deloitte forecast a growth rate of 7.2% for India this year buoyed by manufacturing activity even as rising oil prices and high government debt remain a challenge.

The agriculture sector is expected to grow higher than the estimated 2.1% in the current fiscal year on account of positive prospects on Rabi harvest and a normal monsoon, contributing significantly to the national GDP, said the India Economic Outlook Report 2018.

The Indian economy grew 6.6% in the last fiscal as it battled the lingering effects of demonetisation in 2016. Teething issues related to implementation of GST, which hampered operations of small and medium sized enterprises and exporters, also contributed to growth moderation.

GDP Growth Getting Back on Track

Deloitte's growth forecast for this fiscal is conservative compared to that of the Reserve Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which projected India to grow 7.4%, and Asian Development Bank and Fitch which estimated growth at 7.3%.

If the internal bottlenecks are not alleviated, subdued private investment would put downside pressures on India's potential growth

India's GDP grew by 7.2% in Q3 FY18. Manufacturing grew by 8.1% for the quarter compared to 7.9% in the same quarter last year. Cement, electricity, coal, and steel, the bedrock of the economy, all witnessed robust growth.

India also surpassed China as the world's fastest growing economy. Rest assured, we'll keep a close eye on this trend.

Moving on to news from stocks in the IT sector. Wipro share price was among the top losers in the markets today after the company announced results for the quarter ended March 2018. The shares witnessed selling activity after the IT services major reported less-than expected profits for the quarter.

The IT major posted 6.6% quarter-on-quarter fall in net profit at Rs 18 billion in Q4FY18 over Rs 19.3 billion in Q3FY18. Bottomline figures slipped 20.6% on a yearly basis for the quarter under review.

Consolidated total income of Wipro slipped marginally 0.05% on a sequential basis to Rs 143.1 billion, whereas the figures fell 4.9% on a year-on-year basis.

Wipro expects topline from IT services business to be in the range of US$2,015 million to US$2,065 million.

Further, Revenue from IT services segment increased 2.4% on QoQ in dollar terms to US$2,062 million. In rupee terms, the figures witnessed an increase of 1.3% to Rs 134.1 billion.

The company made provisions of Rs 2.1 billion for January-March with respect to insolvency of a customer and the impairment loss in one of their acquisitions. The figure had stood at Rs 5.3 billion last year.

Without naming the telecom client, Wipro had earlier said that it had initially signed a deal with this firm in 2008 and had renewed the contract in 2013. The IT firm added that the client had filed its insolvency petition on 28 February.