The fertiliser stocks got hammered today morning, with some of them shedding as much as over six per cent on the BSE, as the government deferred its decision to decontrol urea prices.
Disappointed by the delay on deregulation of urea prices, the Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals witnessed a decline of 5.85 per cent at Rs 80.90 a share in the afternoon trade.
Yesterday, a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, decided to refer the issue of decontrolling urea to a committee of secretaries.
Reacting to the news, shares of another company National Fertilisers tanked by 6.95 per cent to Rs 110 a piece on Bombay Stock Exchange.
Other major losers in the fertiliser pack included Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals (down 5.07 per cent), Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (down 3.58 per cent) and GSFC (1.36 per cent).
The government had introduced the nutrient—based subsidy (NBS) scheme in April 2010 decontrolling potassic and phosphatic fertilisers, but kept its control on price and movement of urea—based fertilisers.