Key indices were trading firm as Finance Minister Piyush Goyal finished his budget speech. At 13:41 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 389.86 points or 1.08% at 36,646.55. The Nifty 50 index was up 113.10 points or 1.04% at 10,944.05. Intraday volatility was high.

Presenting the interim budget for 2019-20, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said the fiscal deficit for the current financial year is expected to be 3.4% of GDP. As per the Budget estimate, the fiscal deficit for 2018-19 was pegged at 3.3%.

Piyush Goyal announced doubling of income tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh, raising standard deduction to Rs 50,000 and provided concessions on interest income from bank deposits and rent. GST has been continuously reduced, resulting in relief of Rs 80000 crore to consumers, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said. He claimed that most items of daily use for poor and middle class are now in the 0%-5% tax bracket.

The defence budget was increased for the first time to three lakh crore in 2019-20 for securing borders and to maintain preparedness of highest order and if necessary additional funds will be provided.

India is poised to become a 5 trillion dollar economy in the next five years and become a 10 trillion dollar economy in the next eight years. Piyush Goyal increased the budgetary allocation for India's flagship rural employment scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme. The scheme will get Rs 60000 crore as against Rs 55000 crore rupees promised in the last Budget.

For welfare of farmers and for doubling their income, historic decision taken to increase MSP by 1.5 times the production cost for all 22 crops, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said. He also announced a steady income support to help farmers in view of depleting income from agriculture.

The interim budget is the last one presented by the current NDA government led by Prime Minister Modi, before the 2019 general elections in April. The Budget session of Parliament began yesterday. The session will conclude on 13th of next month.

Maruti Suzuki India (up 6.04%), HCL Technologies (up 3.1%) and Hindustan Unilever (up 2.94%) were the major gainers.

Hero MotoCorp surged 8.4%. The company's net profit fell 4.5% to Rs 769.10 crore on 7.5% increase in net sales to Rs 7,864.82 crore in Q3 December 2018 over Q3 December 2017. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 31 January 2019.

The board of directors has declared an interim dividend of Rs 55 per equity share of for the financial year 2018-19. Accordingly, the board has fixed 12 February 2019 as record date for determining entitlement of members for the purpose of payment of interim dividend.

Pawan Munjal, chairman, Hero MotoCorp, said that there have been temporary setbacks in the third quarter of the current fiscal on account of multiple factors, leading to higher than normal inventory levels at dealerships. However, the fourth quarter has historically been positive and the firm looks forward to an improved market situation in the coming months. Hopefully, the upcoming budget will have enough impetus for the agriculture and social sectors to trigger a positive turnaround in the sentiments.

Ashok Leyland rose 5.9% after total sales rose 9% to 19,741 units in January 2019 over January 2018. Ashok Leyland's sales of light commercial vehicles (LCV) rose 13% to 5,047 units, while total sales of medium & heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) rose 8% to 14,694 units in January 2019 over January 2018. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 1 February 2019.