Booster Dose
With record healthcare expenditure and allocations focussing on mitigating the impact of Covid-19, it s a shot in the arm for the sector
Illustration by Raj Verma
The highest-ever healthcare allocation in a budget will provide the much-needed boost to the ailing economy, and pave the way for a robust, holistic public healthcare infrastructure to tackle future pandemics, according to industry experts.
The Budget outlay for Health and Wellbeing for 2021/22 came in at a record Rs 2,23,846 crore, a 137 per cent increase over this year s Budget estimate of Rs 94,452 crore. It is about 1.6 per cent of India s projected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at Rs 134.4 lakh crore for 2020/21. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who earmarked Rs 35,000 crore for Coronavirus vaccination as a short-term overall reset to correct the ailing economy, also announced a two-pronged strategy after listening to experts in the sector.
Read more about Healthcare shares slide on Business Standard. Healthcare stocks were trading with losses, with the S&P BSE Healthcare index falling 113.35 points or 0.51% at 22268.45 at 13:48 IST.
Healthcare stocks were trading in green, with the S&P BSE Healthcare index increasing 261.06 points or 1.24% at 21299.45 at 09:48 IST. Among the components of the S&P BSE Healthcare index, Wockhardt Ltd (up 4.56%), Take Solutions Ltd (up 3.99%),Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd (up 3.88%),Astrazeneca Pharma India Ltd (up 3.78%),Neuland Laboratories Ltd (up 3.54%), were the top gainers. Among the other gainers were Piramal Enterprises Ltd (up 3.37%), Aster DM Healthcare Ltd (up 2.76%), Alembic Ltd (up 2.73%), Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd (up 2.68%), and Thyrocare Technologies Ltd (up 2.56%). On the other hand, Suven Life Sciences Ltd (down 5%), Ipca Laboratories Ltd (down 1.09%), and Indoco Remedies Ltd (down 0.82%) turned lower.
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Healthcare stocks were trading with gains, with the S&P BSE Healthcare index rising 206.52 points or 0.97% at 21511.12 at 09:48 IST. Among the components of the S&P BSE Healthcare index, Suven Life Sciences Ltd (up 4.95%), Take Solutions Ltd (up 4.23%),Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd (up 2.77%),Marksans Pharma Ltd (up 2.75%),Sequent Scientific Ltd (up 2.67%), were the top gainers. Among the other gainers were Divis Laboratories Ltd (up 2.67%), Laurus Labs Ltd (up 2.37%), Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd (up 2.24%), Cadila Healthcare Ltd (up 2.18%), and Thyrocare Technologies Ltd (up 2.12%). On the other hand, J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd (down 1.23%), Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd (down 0.93%), and Metropolis Healthcare Ltd (down 0.69%) moved lower.