Shares of companies that supply railway lines and other equipment to Indian Railways rallied by more than four per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday after the government announced railway infrastructure projects worth Rs. 24,000 crore.
Kalindee Rail Nirman (Engineers) shares gained 4.69 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs.118.30 apiece and were trading at Rs. 117, up 3.54 per cent at around 11.28 a.m. The company will be holding its board meeting on September 1 to consider June quarter results.
Texmaco Rail and Engineering shares were up 3.71 per cent at Rs. 111.95, while Titagarh Wagons gained the maximum at 4.91 per cent to trade at Rs. 114.35.
On Wednesday, the Indian Railways had announced nine projects worth Rs. 24,000 crore for expansion of network and connectivity across the country.
All the projects comprise construction of additional railway lines in Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
The Indian Railways said that the projects would give a fillip to its earnings and spur industrial growth in the areas.
"Besides facilitating travel by easing traffic bottlenecks, the approved lines would help upcoming industries in the region and additional transport capacity to meet their requirements. The goods trains supplying food grains from one region to another, various industries, mines, coal fields and power plants will have additional transport capacity through these lines resulting in more revenues to Indian Railways," the ministry said in a statement.
The BSE Sensex was up 72 points at 28,132, while the NSE Nifty was trading 24 points higher at 8,674. The Sensex rally was being led by ITC, Cipla, Axis Bank and Power Grid Corporation. On the NSE, many sectoral indices such as bank, auto, fmcg and pharma were trading in the green.
The Indian rupee opened at 67.08 to the US dollar on Thursday.
