BENGALURU, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Indian shares reversed earlier gains to close lower on Wednesday, led by a fall in insurance companies after the country's Union budget proposed to limit tax exemptions for insurance proceeds, while Adani Group shares tumbled.
The bluechip Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) closed down 0.26% at 17,616.30, its biggest slide on budget day since a 2.51% fall in 2020.
HDFC Life (HDFL.NS), SBI Life Insurance (SBIL.NS), ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co (ICIR.NS), Life Insurance of India (LIFI.NS), General Insurance Corp (GENA.NS) and Max Financial (MAXI.NS) tumbled between 8.5% to 12.5%.
Metal stocks (.NIFTYMET) closed down 4.5%, mostly dragged by the slump in Adani Enterprises.
($1 = 81.8680 Indian rupees)Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Nallur Sethuraman in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.