Union Budget 2020: Winners And Losers

There’s a lot riding on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s budget this fiscal year. Once the world’s fastest growing economy, India is now trying to restart economic growth that’s dipped to an 11-year low.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this budget was aimed to boosting incomes and enhancing purchasing power, stressing that the economy’s fundamentals were strong and inflation was well contained.

Here’s a short list of winners and losers from Saturday’s budget announcements.

Winners

Transport infrastructure

Sitharaman unveiled plans for India’s highways and railways, proposing Rs. 1.7 trillion ($23.7 billion) for transport infrastructure that includes the accelerated development of highways and plans to monetize 12 lots of highway bundles.

Key infrastructure players like Larson & Toubro and KNR Constructions and IRB Infra look set to benefit.

Electronics manufacturing

The government’s plan to encourage the manufacture of mobile phones, electronic equipment, and semiconductor manufacturing as well as medical devices will be positive for companies such as Dixon Technologies, Amber Enterprises, Subros, said Vinay Pandit, Head of Institutional Equities at IndiaNivesh.

Rural India

The farm and rural sectors were allocated 2.83 trillion rupees, while the agriculture credit target for next year is set at 15 trillion rupees.

News of the government’s proposal to expand fisheries and create 500 fish farmer producer organizations saw gains in Avanti Feeds, Apex Frozen Foods and Waterbase.

The minister announced that the rail service will be equipped with air conditioned freight cars and the government will provide viability gap funding for warehousing.

Container Corporation of India Ltd is set to be the biggest winner off the announcements on freight trains, cold storage and warehousing. The Fast Moving Consumer Goods Index rallied, while Emami, Hindustan Unilever, Dabur, Tata Global are set to rally further.

Water

Sitharaman announced measures to help farm sector growth in water-stressed districts, helping to boost the shares of VA Tech Wabag Ltd., which designs and builds water and sewage treatment plants.

Shakti Pumps India Ltd. jumped the most in three-weeks after the announcement of proposals to help farmers set-up standalone solar pumps to allow them to make a living out of their barren land.

The plan to provide piped water across Indian households by 2024 — with 3.6 trillion rupees in funding — means Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd., KSB Ltd., Kirloskar Brothers Ltd., JK Agri Genetics Ltd., PI Industries Ltd. could benefit.

The minister also announced 123 billion rupees for the Clean India mission. Companies including Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Procter and Gamble, Godrej stand to gain here.

Telcos

The government is also further developing Bharat Net — or Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. — a program to bring broadband to villages. The government plans to provide 60 billion rupees for the project in the next fiscal year.

Reliance Industries and HFCL Ltd. stand to benefit.

Online educators

Education received significant attention in Sitharaman’s budget speech, with the sector receiving 993 billion rupees in 2020-21.

The establishment of degree-level, fully-fledged online education programs to be offered by by institutions who are ranked within the top 100 in the national institution ranking framework will see online educators like National Institute of Information Technology and MT Educare benefit.

IT firms

The announcement of a forthcoming policy to allow the private sector to build data center parks could potentially benefit all IT firms, including TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, along with mid-sized firms like LTI, Mindtree, Persistent, and Hexaware.

Adani Enterprises also stands to benefit from this development.

Pipeline & city gas suppliers

India plans to expands its national gas grid to 27,000 kilometers from 16,200 kilometers.

Pipeline suppliers such as Welspun Corp., Maharashtra Seamless Ltd., Ratnamani Metals & Tubes Ltd., Jindal Saw, and Man Industries India Ltd. stand to benefit. Expanding the national gas grid is also positive for positive for companies such as IGL, MGL, and Gujarat Gas.

Losers

Insurance

Sitharaman’s announcement of plans to sell a part stake in Life Insurance Corp. triggered declines in shares of private insurers, which were star performers in 2019. SBI Life Insurance Co. fell as did HDFC Life Insurance Co. and Nippon Life India Asset Management Ltd.

State-run banks

The finance minister stayed silent on infusing new capital into state-run banks for 2020-21. If the government doesn’t inject fresh capital, it would be the first under the Modi government since 2014.

State Bank of India Ltd., Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of India and Punjab National Bank could be impacted.

The S&P BSE Bankex index of lenders dropped 1.5%, the most since Jan. 20.

Fertilizer companies

Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. extended declines among fertilizer manufacturers after Sitharaman proposed balancing the use of chemical fertilizers with a change in incentives. She also announced a renewed focus on zero-budget farming which significantly cuts down on fertilizer consumption.

Others impacted include Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers, Chambal Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. and Madras Fertilizers Ltd.

Logistics players

The delay in the country’s long-awaited National Logistics Policy will be a disappointment for key players such as Blue Dart, Gati and Mahindra Logistics who have been waiting several years for the announcement.

Real estate & construction

Shares of real estate companies like Godrej Properties, Oberoi Realty Ltd., and DLF Ltd. and Prestige Estates declined when the finance minister did not announce any specific measure for the sector. The property sector had demanded measures to enhance credit availability for developers, an industry status and other measures that could propel sales.

The delay in the country’s long-awaited National Logistics Policy will be a disappointment for key players such as Blue Dart, Gati and Mahindra Logistics who have been waiting several years for the announcement.

Real estate & construction

Shares of real estate companies like Godrej Properties, Oberoi Realty Ltd., and DLF Ltd. and Prestige Estates declined when the finance minister did not announce any specific measure for the sector. The property sector had demanded measures to enhance credit availability for developers, an industry status and other measures that could propel sales.―Livemint