Auto stocks jump after Gadkari assures support

Automobile stocks jumped up to 7.8 per cent on Thursday after Union Minister Nitin Gadkari assured the crisis-hit industry of all possible support.

Shares of Tata Motors zoomed 7.81 per cent, Exide Industries 2.83 per cent, Bharat Forge 2.80 per cent, Motherson Sumi Systems 2.63 per cent, Maruti Suzuki India 2.41 per cent, on the BSE.

Likewise, Mahindra & Mahindra rose 2.23 per cent, Bajaj Auto 1.62 per cent, Hero MotoCorp 1.54 per cent, TVS Motor Company 1.45 per cent, Bosch 0.99 per cent, Ashok Leyland 0.80 per cent and Eicher Motors 0.72 per cent.

Led by gains in these scrips, the BSE Auto Index went up 2.13 per cent to close at 15,563.90.

Gadkari on Thursday assured the crisis-hit automobile industry of all possible support from the government, including taking up the demand of GST reduction with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

He also stated that the government had no intention to ban petrol and diesel vehicles, clearing the air after rumours were doing the round that the move to push e-mobility will result in end of the road for traditional petrol and diesel vehicles.

With the impending price increase of vehicles and the upcoming of BS-VI norms deadline, "It is your (industry's) demand that there should be a reduction in tax of petrol and diesel vehicles. Your suggestions are good. I will take your message to the finance minister," Gadkari said at annual SIAM convention here.