Construction stocks in demand; surge up to 20 pc

Shares of construction sector companies surged up to 20 per cent today after the Cabinet approved an array of measures to pump in liquidity and deal with stressed assets in the industry.
Hindustan Construction Company shares zoomed 19.83 per cent, Gammon India soared 16.55 per cent, Punj Lloyd jumped 11.57 per cent and Unity Infraprojects rose 11.14 per cent on BSE.
Shares of Gammon Infrastructure rose by 6.30 per cent and KNR Constructions went up by 2.86 per cent.
The Cabinet allowed contractors to move to the new speedier arbitration process, approved release of 75 per cent of the amount in dispute against bank guarantee and provided for a conciliation board comprising of independent domain experts in new contracts.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the construction sector contributes 8 per cent of the GDP and provides employment to some 40 million people in the country.
"There are various challenges before the construction sector and the government has been trying to improve upon the functioning of the construction sector," he said.