Golden Tobacco (down 3.17%), NTC Industries (down 0.67%) and VST Industries (down 0.56%), edged lower.

Sector bellwether ITC was up 0.97%, while Godfrey Phillips India was up 0.57%.

The S&P BSE Sensex was down 232.39 points, or 0.58% at 39,675.67.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech said that tobacco products and crude attract national calamity and contingent duty. In certain cases this levy has been contested on the ground that there is no basic excise duty on these items. To address this issue, a nominal basic excise duty is being imposed.