Rains bring India’s financial capital to a halt

Bloomberg

Streets in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, were relatively empty while trading volumes in stock and bond markets dropped as residents stayed home following the worst downpour in 12 years.
The city’s Santacruz weather center recorded 33.1 centimetres of rain in 24 hours that ended at 8:30 am on Wednesday, the most since 94.4 centimeters of precipitation recorded 12 years ago. Authorities asked residents to stay at home after the weather office predicted “heavy to very heavy” rainfall in parts of the city.
“Trading is expected to remain thin today due to rain-related disruptions,” said Anoop Verma, vice president for treasury at DCB Bank Ltd. , adding that the treasury team only had 30 percent of its employees at work. “Many of our people didn’t go home last night and some left for home this morning.”
Trading volumes on the National Stock Exchange’s NSE 50 Nifty Index were 19 percent below the 30-day average as of 1:30 pm local time.
Residents in the city, home to the nation’s central bank, stock exchanges and the Indian headquarters of Novartis AG and Citigroup Inc., walked home, hitched rides on trucks or spent the night in their offices as the deluge evoked memories of the flooding in 2005 caused by a cloudburst that dumped three feet of rain on a single day, killing 570 people.