The shares of fertiliser and agri-related companies were trading lower in mid-morning trading on Friday, a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a series of measures for the farming community as part of the second tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package titled 'Self-reliant India' (Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan). Chambal Fertilisers, Deepak Fertilisers and GSFC ended lower between 1.5 per cent and 5.8 per cent, on the BSE. On the other hand, Tata Chemicals, which resumed operations at its manufacturing facilities in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu this week, ended higher by half a per cent.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while addressing the media on Thursday evening, announced additional liquidity worth Rs 30,000 crore to farm sector lender, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), over and above the Rs 90,000 crore already provided in the current financial year. NABARD will deploy this working capital fund to meet the crop loan requirement of farmers through rural co-operative banks and regional rural banks.
The government also announced concessional credit boost worth Rs 2 lakh crore to 2.5 crore farmers through Kisan Credit Cards. The government has already sanctioned 2.5 million new kisan credit cards during the lockdown period and disbursed loans amounting to Rs 25,000 crore, Nirmala Sitharaman pointed out.
The Sensex ended 0.08 per cent or 25 points lower at 31,097.73 and the NSE Nifty 50 index fell 0.06 per cent or 6 points lower at 9,136.85.
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