Elect Equipment Makers Upbeat

Shares of electrical equipment manufacturing companies today powered on the stock exchanges on expectations of benefits coming from budgetary benefits. Shares of Crompton Greaves were again up 20 per cent at Rs 43.20, Siemens shares went up by 9.32 per cent at Rs 269.65, BHEL was up 6.07 per cent to Rs 178.35 and ABB was up 7.88 per cent at Rs 277.10 on the BSE.

According to analysts, electrical equipment companies will be gaining due to the allocation of additional funds for the power transmission and distribution sector in the Budget. They say the cut in custom duties will also help these companies as they can import machinery for their high-end products.

Electrical equipment manufacturers will also benefit from the increased 15 per cent depreciation on new plants and machinery. The FM has proposed additional depreciation at the rate of 15 per cent on new plant and machinery acquired on or after April 1 for setting up new industrial units, or for expanding installed capacities of existing units by at least 25 per cent.

The highest market capitalization among these four companies was reported today by BHEL at Rs 4,365.29 crore, followed by ABB at Rs 1,147.75 crore and Siemens at Rs 867.79 crore on the BSE.