Amber Enterprises, Voltas, Blue Star Gain After Govt Bans AC Imports

Stocks of AC manufacturers rose on Friday after the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) banned imports of air conditioners with refrigerants with a view to promote domestic manufacturing and cut imports of non-essential items.

"Import policy of air conditioners with refrigerants ...is amended from free to prohibited," DGFT said in a notification.

As part of its Atma Nirbhar Bharat mission, the government is taking steps to promote domestic manufacturing and reduce the import bill of non-essential items.

Shares of Amber Enterprises, which manufactures AC machines including motor vehicle ACs, rose over 15 percent on Friday to touch a new 52-week high of Rs 2,228.

As a sentiment effect, Voltas, Blue Star and Johnson Controls also gained 4-5 percent, while Havells India (which owns Lloyds) gained around 2 percent intraday.

"This is in line with the government thinking of reducing import dependence in this segment. Majority imports of in this segment come from China and Thailand," said Dolat Capital.

"This should not significantly impact the listed players like Voltas, Blue star, Havells (Lloyds) who don't have much import of full AC units. These players, in any case, have their own assembly/manufacturing units and import at the component levels," the brokerage added.