Pharma shares gain; BSE Healthcare index up nearly 200 points

SPARC, Aurobindo, Sun Pharma, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Dr Reddy's Laboratories are up 2-7% on BSE.

Shares of pharmaceutical companies are trading higher in otherwise weak market after the finance minister announced measures for improving the quality of life and public health.

The government allocated Rs 33,152 crore to the health sector, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his budget speech.


The tax exemption limit for health insurance was increased from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000. "This move is meant to encourage people to take health insurance," Jaitley said.

Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC), Aurobindo Pharma, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories are up 2-7%, while Torrent Pharma, Divi’s Laboratories and Glenmark Pharma up 1% each on BSE.

At 1448 hours, S&P BSE Healthcare index rallied 1.3% or 200 points compared with a marginal 0.03% fall in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.

“Like most other sectors, the Pharma sector also had high expectations, more so from the perspective of Make in India campaign where the Pharma sector has been a shining example of India’s growing dominance,” said Utkarsh Palnitkar, Head of Advisory and national leader of Pharma sector, KPMG in India.

It was expected that specific impetus be given to the Pharma manufacturing through announcements of clusters and concession related to taxation related to manufacturing as well as the irritants such as service tax on clinical trials. As such other than the overall announcement of ‘Health for All’ and creation of NIPER in 3 states, the budget does not provide any specific impetus to the pharma sector, added Palnitkar.