By 9:30, the Sensex was lower by 2 points at 25,189 and the Nifty slipped by 3 points at 7,531 mark.

On the global front, Asian shares struck a cautious tone on Tuesday as the double-whammy of a deepening conflict in Iraq and a gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia sapped investors' appetite for risk.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. About 1700 shares have advanced, 1327 shares declined, and 95 shares are unchanged.

Sell-off was visible in the broader markets as well with both the mid and small cap indices down over 1% each, taking a breather after several weeks of outperformance.

Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO (chief executive officer) of ICICI Bank — the largest private sector lender in the country — received an increment of only two per cent during this period. She earned Rs 5.23 crore in 2013-14.

With this, HDFC Life might become the first Indian private insurer to have an international presence. Though companies have set up representative offices in other countries, none of them have begun full-fledged operations in non-Indian markets.

The proposal to increase foreign investment in the bank was opposed by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the current foreign direct investment (FDI) policy.

“Land acquisition has taken more time than what we had anticipated. Thus, our plans have been delayed by almost two years,” said a senior executive from HDFC on the condition of anonymity.