Gujarat government-led fertiliser firm Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals (GNFC) has notched up a stunning 109 per cent gain on the bourses in the past 90 days.

The rally, according to sources, is supported by strong buying by a range of foreign funds.

The company’s shares witnessed a run from ₹262.3 on August 10 to a 52-week high at ₹548.50 on October 24, before settling at ₹444.45 on Thursday on the BSE.

Several pension funds, including from the US and the UK, and banking institutions such as People’s Bank of China and Japan’s Master Trust Bank of Japan Ltd — as a trustee of the national pension fund association — have picked up the company’s shares for their portfolios.

The investments by these funds remained at less than 1 per cent, said the market sources.

However, US-based portfolio investor Fidelity Puritan Trust Low-Priced Stock Fund reduced its holding to 4.09 per cent as on September 2017, from 8.72 per cent as on September 2016. Despite that, it remained the top foreign fund to be invested in the State public sector unit.

Among the 20 global funds, the leading ones are from Australia (Queensland Investment Trust No 2), Canada (Government of the Province of Alberta, managed by Comgest SA), Luxembourg (UBS Fund Management AG on behalf of UBS Institutional Fund-Equities Emerging Markets Small Cap Passive), South Korea (Samsung India Small and Mid Cap Focus Securities Master Investment Trust (Equity), and Singapore’s Credit Suisse (Singapore) Ltd apart from those from the US and the UK.

“Foreign funds are interested to invest in India. There is good optimism around the future growth in Indian market. Even though foreign funds have been sellers in the Indian market, they can’t ignore India and they can’t ignore a stock like GNFC,” said Kishor Ostwal, Chairman & Managing Director, CNI Research.

According to the company’s exchange filings, GNFC has 41.21 per cent promoter and promoter group holding, and 58.79 per cent as public holding.

The State public sector unit, which spearheaded the less-cash drive by providing digital solutions to industrial townships across the country, also grabbed global attention after it introduced a range of neem-based consumer products, the first in India. These included neem soap, neem shampoo, neem hand-wash, and neem-based organic pesticides, among others.

Apart from this, the ₹550-crore Di-Calcium Phosphate (DCP) plant, a downstream project of GNFC, is also being set up with foreign direct investment from EcoPhos Belgium, Europe’s largest DCP producer. The two-lakh tonnes per annum plant will produce cattle, poultry and fish feed.

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