Stocks of Indian companies with exposure to Europe and Russia nosedived on Thursday after Russia launched a military offensive against Ukraine.
Shares of Tata Motors, which also owns Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), crashed over 10% on BSE to close at ₹427.85. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has also hit Indian auto ancillary companies, which had already witnessed a decline in demand from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in Europe due to global chip shortage. Shares of Motherson Sumi Systems, a key supplier to European markets, tanked over 7% on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to ₹144.15.
Shares of Dr Reddy's Laboratories, which has a significant presence in the Russian market, fell around 3% to hit a 52-week low of ₹4,055.85 apiece in the intraday trade. Earlier this week, Russian drugmaker Binnopharm Group entered into agreement to acquire two anti-bacterial brands from Dr. Reddy’s in the Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. In September 2020, the drugmaker had signed up with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) — Russia's sovereign wealth fund — to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in India.
India exported over $181 million worth of pharmaceutical goods to Ukraine in FY21, clocking nearly 44% growth over the previous year, while Russia contributed nearly $591 million last fiscal with a growth of 6.95% compared to a year before, according to Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), a body under the Department of Commerce.
Not just crude, edible oil may boil too
India imports around 70% of sunflower oil from Ukraine and about 20% from Russia. The Russian attack on Ukraine is expected to put pressure on edible oil prices in India. Shares of Adani Wilmar slumped nearly 4% on Thursday amid concerns over a long-drawn conflict.
This comes as the Indian embassy in Ukraine advised stranded Indian students to stay put. “We are aware that certain places are hearing air sirens/bomb warnings. In case you are faced with such a situation, Google maps has a list of nearby bomb shelters, many of which are located in underground metros," the embassy said.
India-Ukraine trade during April-December 2021-22 touched $2.35 billion and the bilateral trade for the whole year was expected to be close to the all-time high of $2.73 billion registered in 2018-19. As a percentage of India's overall trade, Ukraine's share has remained more or less stagnant at less than 0.5%, commerce ministry data indicates.
India is Ukraine's largest export destination in the Asia-Pacific and the fifth largest overall export destination.
India's exports to Ukraine during April-December 2021-22 were worth $372 million. The imports stood at $1.98 billion during the same period. In 2020-21, the value of India's total trade with Ukraine was $2.59 billion with imports alone accounting for $2.14 billion. In 2018-19, when the overall trade came close to $2.8 billion, India had imported $2.34 billion worth of goods from Ukraine.