Cable and Wire Stocks Fall as Aditya Birla Group Unveils UltraVolt Venture

Shares of leading cable and wire companies came under pressure on Friday after the Aditya Birla Group announced the launch of its new wires and cables business, UltraVolt, with an investment of ₹1,800 crore. The development triggered selling across several stocks in the segment during morning trade.  

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KEI Industries was one of the major losers. The company’s stock opened at ₹5,069.95, down more than 8% from the previous closing of ₹5,292.50 and hit an intraday low of ₹4,855.75. 

There were sharp falls in Polycab India as well. Its stock dipped by nearly 6% and reached an intraday low of ₹8,308.55, which is lower than the previous closing of ₹8,825. 

Sales were also seen in other companies in the sector. The stocks of Finolex Cables lost around 5% to close at ₹1,210.40, which was its previous closing of ₹1,273.15. Similarly, the stocks of R R Kabel fell by 5% and reached an intraday low of ₹2,488.60 from the previous closing of ₹2,618.80. 

The weakness in cable and wire stocks followed Kumar Mangalam Birla's announcement that the group's new business will operate under the UltraVolt brand. The venture will be housed within UltraTech Cement and, according to the group, will be the second-largest player in the wires segment by capacity at the time of launch.  

The company has set a target of becoming one of India's top two wire-and-cable players within the next five years.  

This latest venture is part of a number of expansion plans that have been embarked upon by the Aditya Birla Group over the last few years. The group forays into the paints segment through Birla Opus, into the jewellery retailing through Indriya and into B2B ecommerce through Birla Pivot among others. 

Even as stocks of the cable and wire segment declined, shares of UltraTech Cement witnessed gains. The share price gained almost 2% over the course of the day and scaled an intra-day high of ₹11,438.80 from an opening price of ₹11,421.95. The previous closing price was ₹11,223.45.