India’s benchmark stock gauge and currency fell, as a plunge in oil prices heightened investor concerns about global growth.
The S&P BSE Sensex Index slumped 3.2% to close at 30,636.71 points yesterday, its biggest drop in three weeks, while the rupee declined 0.4% to 76.835 per US dollar, near a record low touched mid-April. Asia’s third-largest economy is near a standstill amid a prolonged lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
While India is a net importer of crude, a collapse in oil futures on Monday amid stagnant global demand exacerbated recession fears. 
All major equity markets in Asia declined yesterday, with the regional MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropping 1.9%. India’s NSE Nifty 50 Index lost 3%, the most since April 1 and yields on local 10-year government bonds were little changed at 6.21%.
India’s government and central bank are trying to cushion the economic effect of virus-enforced closures with fiscal and monetary policy measures. Reserve Bank of India yesterday eased investment conditions for banks that borrow under its targeted long-term repo operations. Some makers of information-technology hardware in India, farmers and industries in rural areas resumed operations from Monday even as the lockdown was extended until May 3.
“Efforts to ramp up the economy once the lockdown has been lifted may take a toll as the lack of employees as well as demand may strike down hard on industrial activity,” analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd wrote in a note to clients.
With the earnings season underway, Infosys Ltd. on Monday refrained from projecting full-year revenue for the first time in years, joining a growing list of businesses around the world struggling to assess the fallout of the Covid-19. So far, four Nifty 50 members have reported quarterly results.
“With equities wobbling, a pall cast on global demand and a stronger dollar in its wake, the reflex may be for capital to leak out of emerging markets – India included,” Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd in Singapore. India has recorded 18,658 cases and 592 deaths linked to the global health crisis, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
All but two of the 19 sector sub-indexes compiled by BSE Ltd declined, led by a gauge of banking shares. ICICI Bank Ltd was the biggest drag on the Sensex, falling 8.3%, while IndusInd Bank Ltd dropped the most, slumping 12.3%.
Meanwhile the Indian rupee fell sharply to close near record lows against the US dollar amid broad-based strength in the American currency. 
A big selloff in domestic stock markets also weighed on the rupee. After opening at 76.74 per US dollar, the rupee hit an intraday low of 76.85 per USD, not far from its record low of 76.87 hit last week. The rupee settled the day at 76.83 as compared to the previous close of 76.54.
Indian stocks markets saw a sharp fall with the Sensex plunging over 1,000 points in late trade. The rupee is down about 8% against the US dollar so far this year amid record outflows from Indian capital markets. 
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets, as they sold shares worth Rs265.89 crore on Monday.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose by 0.23% to 100.28 as investors shunned riskier assets. 
Risk sentiment across the globe has taken a hit, with Dow falling 2.5% overnight, says Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO, IFA Global.
“Sentiment in Asia has also soured with reports that North Korean leader is critically ill. 
Other Asian currencies too are trading weak against the US dollar. The Dollar index is back above the 100 mark. US treasury yields are lower on safe haven demand,” he added. 
Sell-off in equities is a major threat for rupee going forward, he said, adding foreign portfolio investors own $378bn of Indian equities.