Indian benchmark stock indices, Sensex and Nifty, experienced a sharp decline on Friday, marking their sixth straight day of losses. Both indices fell by nearly 1%, primarily due to aggressive selling in pharmaceutical and information technology shares. The market reacted strongly to U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration of new, stringent tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs, set to take effect next month.
The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 80,426.46, down 733.22 points or 0.90%, reaching a three-week low. Earlier in the day, the index dipped even further, losing 827.27 points to touch 80,332.41.
Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 236.15 points or 0.95%, settling at 24,654.70, also an over three-week low. Since September 19, the Nifty has shed more than 3% in six continuous sessions, while the Sensex has fallen by a significant 2,587.50 points (3.16%) by Friday’s close.
The healthcare sector bore the brunt of the sell-off, with the BSE Healthcare index dropping by 2.14% as most pharma shares plummeted. This reaction followed President Trump’s announcement of a 100% import tariff on pharmaceutical drugs, effective October 1. Notably, Wockhardt shares alone tanked by 9.4%.
President Trump elaborated on the new policy via his social media platform, Truth Social: "Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America." He further clarified that "IS BUILDING" would encompass "breaking ground" and/or "under construction," meaning no tariff would apply if construction has commenced.
Among the Sensex constituents, major laggards included Mahindra & Mahindra, Eternal, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, and HCL Tech.
Conversely, a few stocks managed to defy the downturn, with Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, ITC, and Reliance Industries registering gains.
"Indian equities closed sharply lower on Friday due to a widespread sell-off triggered by the U.S. announcement of a steep 100% tariff on branded and patented pharmaceutical imports, effective October 1. This unexpected development further rattled an already nervous investor sentiment, which was still grappling with the recent hike in H-1B visa fees that caused substantial selling pressure on IT stocks earlier this week," commented Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth technology firm. He added, "Both IT and healthcare stocks bore the full impact of the sell-off, pulling down the broader indices as investors hastily reassessed their earnings outlooks and export growth prospects."
The negative sentiment wasn’t confined to India, as major Asian markets also closed significantly lower. South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng all recorded notable losses. In contrast, European equity markets were trading in positive territory, while U.S. markets had closed lower on Thursday.
According to exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹4,995.42 crore on Thursday, indicating a continued withdrawal of foreign capital. The global oil benchmark Brent crude also saw a slight dip, falling 0.27% to $69.23 a barrel.
This Friday’s session followed a challenging Thursday, where the Sensex dropped 555.95 points (0.68%) to settle at 81,159.68, and the Nifty fell 166.05 points (0.66%) to 24,890.85.