Rail stocks derail; falls up to 7 per cent as Budget disappoints markets

Mumbai: Share prices of companies that caterto the railway sector plunged by up to 7 per cent after the Rail Budget 2015-16 failed to boost investors' sentiment. Cimmco tanked 6.93 per cent, Stone India plunged 6.07 per cent, Simplex Castings went down by 4.26 per cent and Kalindee Rail Nirman (Engineers) tumbled 4.05 per cent on the BSE.

Among others, Container Corporation of India was down 3.47 per cent, Texmaco Rail & Engineering fell by 2.51 per cent and BEML dropped 1.65 per cent. In the broader market, the BSE benchmark Sensex fell by 261.34 points to 28,746.65 at close. The Railway Budget today hiked freight rates on cement, coal, foodgrain and pulses, urea, kerosene and LPG by up to 10 per cent to mop up an additional Rs 4,000 crore a year but spared passengers from any raise in fares while ruling out privatisation.

While measures proposed in the Rail Budget such as reviewing the wagon-making scheme aim to make it attractive for private investors, profit-booking set in. "Markets fell post railway freight rate hike," said Aamir Mir, Senior Analyst, HBJ Capital. Presenting his maiden budget, the first full-fledged exercise of the Modi government, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu did not announce any new trains or lines pending a review but said he would concentrate on consolidating the existing ones.