BENGALURU, May 13 Reuters Indian shares declined on Monday while volatility climbed with key equity benchmarks giving up most gains made this year on concerns over the outcome of ongoing national elections and sustained selling by foreign investors.

The bluechip NSE Nifty 50 was down 1.03 at 21,828.7 points, while SP BSE Sensex lost 1.08 to 71,880.07, as of 1045 a.m. IST.

The Nifty is up less than a percent for the year, while the Sensex is down marginally.

Volatility in Indian markets surged to 21.05, the highest since October 2022.

The volatility in the market is due to concerns over election results and foreign selling, said Anil Rego, founder and fund manager at Right Horizons.

The world39;s most populous nation began voting last month, with ballots set to be counted on June 4. The election has so far seen comparatively low voter turnout compared to previous years.

Foreign portfolio investors FPIs have offloaded shares worth 170.83 billion rupees 2.05 billion in just seven sessions in May, the highest since January.

Foreign investors sold 1 billion in April after buying 4.2 billion in March.

Investors are getting anxious, indexes are dropping and FPIs are continuing to sell and these factors should further lead to a spike in volatility, said Sreeram Ramdas, vice president of Green Portfolio.

The benchmarks lost about 1.8 each last week, the worst weekly performance in about two months.

Market technicals are also pointing to weakness. The benchmark Nifty 50…