Indian equities extended gains after the Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee declared huge public investments together with a decline in surcharge for business organizations in his budget report.

At 12.36 p. m., the 30-share index BSE Sensex surged 301.67 points to trade at 16,555.87 than its last closure at 16,254.2 points.

Meanwhile, the broad-based Nifty stood at 4,947.55 after gaining 87.8 points.

Broader markets were also witnessing good buying activity with the BSE midcap index trading 1.46% higher and the BSE small cap index up 1.13%.

Today, bourses opened the day on a positive note owing to a smart recovery in the US markets overnight and strong gains in the Asian markets.

FM has raised weighted deduction from 150% to 200% for in house R&D that will be optimistic for automobile and pharmaceutical companies.

Surcharge for companies decreased to 7.5% from 10%.

FM also announced Rs 1.73 lakh crore for infrastructure growth.

Administration doubled allocation for power segment to Rs 5,130 crore.

For agriculture, interest rate funding for farm loans increased to 2% and moreover, the administration will increase farm loan payment by 6 months.

For the banking segment, FM said, the administration will concentrate on recapitalization of banking institutions that will be helpful for Syndicate Bank & Dena Bank and UCO Bank & Central Bank of India. (With Input from Agencies)