HCC Share on BSE

market sentiment on Tuesday and posted gains as cabinet rejig saw the tough environment minister Jairam Ramesh replacing by Jayanthi Natarajan.

Post market hours, as it was anticipated, the government in its cabinet minister reshuffle replaced Jairam Ramesh with Jayanthi Nat­arajan as a new environme­nt and forest minister, the post seen critical particularly in the light of several big projects hanging fire in the last few months due to delay in getting environment nod.

Riding on the back of a likely change in ministry rejig, HCC share rose 1.7 per cent on BSE to close at Rs 33.60, even as the ben­chmark Sensex fell 1.6 per cent in a weak market sentiment.

Among other gainers, shares of government-controlled Coal India also bucked the trend and jumped 2.3 per cent to end at Rs 365.20, Adani Power was up nearly 1 per cent at Rs 108.65 and Gujarat Mineral Develop Corporation gained 0.5 per cent at Rs 157.90 and while Sterlite Industries eased 0.7 per cent at Rs 162.75.

“Perception may change and one may hope for some positive decision making in the next few months. But these policy decisions should not come from the ministry level and there should be single window clearance from the government side. If India needs to maintain their strong growth momentum, based on the merit of the project, clearance should be put on a fast track,” said Gaurang Shah, Assistant VP, Geojit BNP Financial Services.

Nischal Maheshwari, head of research with Edelweiss Capital said, “Hopefully it will be better for some of these companies, but currently everything is speculative. Although, it will be slightly easier now compared with earlier issues, we won’t see any radical change from what Jairam Ramesh was doing”.

During Jairam Ramesh’s tenure as environment minister, companies such as Hindustan Construction Company’s Lavasa project, a hill city developed near Pune, was put on hold after it was observed that it had violated the environment impact assessment notifications.

In September 2010, the Madras High Court ordered closure of Sterlite Industries' copper smelting plant at Tuticorin on charges the company has failed to comply with environmental issues.