Budget boost for healthcare sector pushes pharma shares up 5%

Pharma scrips gained up to 5 per cent today after the government alloted Rs 33,152 crore to the healthcare sector.
Shares of Aurobindo Pharma surged 4.90 per cent, Ranbaxy Laboratories climbed 3.74 per cent, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries rose by 3.62 per cent and Torrent Pharmaceuticals jumped 3.10 per cent.
Similarly, Dr Reddy's Laboratories was up by 2.60 per cent, Divis Laboratories (1.29 per cent) and Glenmark Pharma (1.22 per cent) on the BSE.
Led by the rally in these scrips, the BSE healthcare index gained 2.03 per cent to close the day at 15,854.60.
Delivering his Budget speech in Parliament today, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said an amount of Rs 33,152 crore has been allocated to the healthcare sector.

He said, with a view to encourage savings and to promote healthcare among individual tax payers, it is proposed to increase the limit of reduction of health insurance premium from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 and for senior citizen this limit is increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.
Three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research will be set up in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh and one institute of Science and Education Research will be set up in Nagaland and Odisha each.
In the broader market, the benchmark BSE Sensex ended 141.38 points up at 29,361.50.