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Mumbai, March 3 Select healthcare, auto and FMCG scrips survived the carnage on the bourses on Monday, probably thanks to the Union Budget. In fact, these shares outperformed the Sensex which tanked 5.12 per cent today. BSE-Auto index was down just by 0.8 per cent, BSE-Healthcare down by 0.19 per cent and BSE-FMCG by 2.10 per cent.

Shares from these three sectors were the gainers. Cipla was up by 2.12 per cent, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd was up by 1.08 per cent, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd gained 0.82 per cent and Hindustan Unilever Ltd was up 1.96 per cent. Market watchers attribute this to the Budget proposals which were favourable to these sectors. “The markets are going through a highly uncertain period now; investors seem to be playing it safe by picking up pharma, auto and FMCG sector shares,” said Mr P. R. Dilip, Managing Director, Impetus Wealth Management Ltd.

Marketmen say the health care sector companies involved in research and development and operators of new hospitals in tier-2 or tier-3 cities will hog the limelight. For new hospitals in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, the Finance Minister had announced a tax holiday of five years. Some health care sectors scrips that ended the day in the green were Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Wockhardt Ltd, Cipla Ltd and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.

Now with the tax slabs being revised there will be more resources available with the people and the extra money at their disposal would be spent on buying FMCG products. “Now people can save between Rs 4,000 and Rs 5,000 a month, so a lot of people would tend to put it into the EMI to buy a car. Car sales will definitely go up now”, said an analyst.

Along with the tax slab increase, the cut in excise duty on cars will help boost interest in the auto sector, he added. Hero Honda Motors and Maruti Suzuki India were among the top performing auto sector scrips today.

Another boost for the FMCG sector is the wavier of the farm loans, which may also leave more money with farmer. Nestle Ltd, United Spirits and Hindustan Unilever Ltd were among the top gainers in this sector.

Analysts and traders expect some reshuffling of portfolio by investors. Mr Hitesh Agrawal, Head of Research, Angel Broking, said that the Union Budget this year was positive in the short run for these three sectors; though he says that they will not out-perform the markets by a huge margin.

In the last year, the power and infrastructure sectors were in the limelight and now scope for any new developments in these sectors may be limited, so now people want to invest in some thing new.

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