Shares of Apex Frozen Foods, Avanti Feeds and Waterbase defied broader market trends to shoot up sharply on Thursday afternoon after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman‘s upbeat remarks on India's seafood market in her interim budget speech.

What Happened: In her Budget speech, Sitharaman highlighted the doubling of seafood exports since 2014, underscoring the sector’s growth. She also emphasized the government’s commitment to further bolstering the fisheries sector through the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY), which will focus on enhancing productivity in both inland and aquaculture activities.

She highlighted plans to accelerate the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) to boost aquaculture productivity from the current 3 to 5 tons per hectare. The goal is to double seafood exports to ₹1 lakh crore and create 55 lakh employment opportunities soon. Additionally, the government aims to establish five integrated aquaparks as part of these efforts.

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The announcements helped the stocks surge on Thursday. Shares of Waterbase surged up over 13.5% to hit an intraday high of ₹95, Avanti Feeds share price jumped up close to 10% to an intraday high of ₹570 and Apex Frozen Foods share price surged up over 7% to hit an intraday high of ₹270.

The stock experienced a similar surge last month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made similar upbeat remarks about the industry during his Lakshadweep tour.

Price Action: Waterbase's share price was up 7.73% to trade at ₹89.90. Avanti Feeds shares were up 4.05% to trade at ₹542.60 and Apex Frozen Foods shares traded 5.08% higher at ₹266.70 on Wednesday afternoon.

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