Stock market today, Aug. 21 -- India's stock market benchmarks saw an increase on Thursday, driven by financial sector gains following a suggestion to exempt insurance premiums from taxation, as well as positive performance from Reliance Industries, which offset a decline in IT stocks ahead of the Federal Reserve's annual symposium.

As of 12:40 IST, the Nifty 50 rose 0.30% to 25,125 . 95, and the BSE Sensex increased by 0.37% to 82,161.07.

The indexes had experienced gains in each of the past five sessions, accumulating around 2%, supported by proposed changes to India's goods and services tax (GST) system and S&P's upgrade of the nation's long-term sovereign credit rating. Investors may proceed cautiously with US tariffs on imports fro...