LPG crisis: Hawkins, Borosil, other appliance firms' shares rise up to 13% as Street expects surge in induction cooker sales

LPG crisis: Hawkins, Borosil, other appliance firms' shares rise up to 13% as Street sees surge in induction cooker sales

• Electric kitchen appliance stocks rose 13% due to LPG worries.
• Kolkata induction cooker sales triple over LPG shortage fears
• Government boosts LPG production by 10%, no supply issues

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Share prices of electric kitchen appliances such as induction cookers have surged up to 13% on March 10 amid growing uncertainty over LPG availability.

Shares of Borosil and Bajaj Electricals rose 13% and 7%, respectively while those of TKK Prestige and Hawkins Cookers climbed 7% and 4.8%, respectively. Butterfly Gandhimathi Appliances Ltd's stock rose 2%.

India consumes about 31.3 million tonnes of LPG annually. As much as 87% of this is in the domestic sector i.e. household kitchens, and the rest in commercial establishments such as hotels and restaurants.

Of this total requirement, as much as 62%t is met through imports. The US and Israel's attack on Iran and Tehran's retaliation have shut the Strait of Hormuz - the conduit through which India got 85-90% of its LPG imports from countries like Saudi Arabia.

Manish Khosla, director of Kolkata's Khosla Electronics, told The Times of India that the surge in demand started on Saturday evening as concerns over higher prices and possible LPG shortages grew.

“People are panicking due to the rise in gas prices and are apprehensive about the unavailability of cylinders. On Saturday, we saw a 60 per cent spurt in sales and the same trend continued on Sunday,” he said.

Khosla said the chain typically sells about 40–45 induction cookers a day across its 86 outlets in the city. “Now the sales have jumped to around 120–130 units daily,” he added.

On Ezra Street, one of Kolkata’s largest markets for electrical appliances, shopkeepers said sales of cooking-related devices had risen sharply over the past few days and could increase further if the supply situation does not improve.

On March 10, a government source told Moneycontrol that LPG production has been increased by 10% and that no LPG distributor is facing shortage of supplies.