Green Stocks Feb 1- Budget Fails to Stir Life Into Markets

A budget that is widely seen as more of spring cleaning than any decisive moves failed to stir the markets, and the green pack as well today. The couple of stocks in the green pack that did move up, namely NTPC Green, did so on the back of results and promoters paying their long-awaited dues, respectively.

In general, the tweaks to poorly planned policies and the usual raft of announcements disappointed the markets, by all accounts. Corporate India doesn't quite say it with words as much as by their actions, and the clearest sign of that will be visible in the flagging private sector capex, which has been trailing for the past few years now. The green energy sector has, of course, been the exception to this rule, but even there, we may see a gradual winding down of plans during the year. 

FIIs of course, will decide on Monday, but the realisation of the need for foreign money to fund massive infra needs seems to have dawned in the form of higher limits for PIO-linked investments. 

For the green sectors, it is mostly business as usual as we expected, with minor duty tweaks meant to support domestic manufacturing, not going far enough in our view. There is much to be disappointed about, for anyone who lays store by the budget in a big way, in that it seems like another missed opportunity. However, the government's past record has been clear that they don't really leave it to the budget for key initiatives where needed, so one can still hope that some moves to that end will follow when the message gets through.  For a third-term government, certainly a poor show.

List of Green Stocks