Consumer stocks, Reliance boost Indian benchmarks

** Indian benchmarks NSE Nifty 50 NIFTY and S&P BSE Sensex SENSEX gain 0.2% and 0.27%, respectively

** Volatility INDIAVIX eases, but hovers around 19-month highs

** Choppiness in markets due to higher VIX, trend to continue until VIX cools down... which is not expected before elections' outcome - Ajit Mishra, vice president of research, Religare Broking

** Six sectoral indexes trading in green; fast moving consumer goods stocks CNXFMCG top sectoral gainer, up 1.47%

** Reliance Industries RELIANCE1!, second-heaviest stock on Nifty 50, advances 2.1% after electrolyser deal

** RELI among top boosts on the benchmark, energy stocks CNXENERGY; latter up 0.7% as oil prices fall

** U.S. rate-sensitive IT stocks CNXIT add 0.78% ahead of Federal Reserve's minutes due later in the day

** Cipla CIPLA gains 2.3% after getting U.S. FDA nod for Acromegaly injection, among top gainers on Nifty 50, Nifty Pharma (.NIPHARMA)

** More domestically focused smallcaps CNXSMALLCAP sheds 0.4% while midcaps CNXMIDCAP largely flat