A strong 1.7 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

The Sesa Goa stock had lost 8.4% on Wednesday (28 February) after the government imposed a duty of Rs 300 per tonne on export of iron ore in the Budget. This will raise the tax burden for Sesa Goa, which exports ore heavily. Sesa Goa's annual exports amount to around 5 million tonnes out of Marmagao, Chennai and Paradip port. It supplies iron ore to China, Japan and Europe, and is also the sole supplier of iron ore to Pakistan Steel Mill, the only steel manufacturing unit in that country.

The Indian steel and sponge iron industries have been strongly lobbying for restricting iron ore exports, not only to conserve the ore for India’s domestic needs, but also to reduce high prices of domestic ore (particularly the small sponge iron producers). The government’s decision to levy export duty is, however, may not impact local iron ore prices.

The Sesa Goa scrip had spurted over the past few months on hopes of aggressive bidding for Japanese Mitsui's 51% stake in the company, which it has put on the block. From Rs 1186.35 on 20 December 2006, Sesa Goa spurted to Rs 1947.85 by 27 February 2007.

As per reports in a section of the media, Brazilian miner CVRD, steel maker Arcelor Mittal, Vedanta Resources and Aditya Birla group have been shortlisted for the final round of bidding for Mitsui's stake. The four companies were shortlisted from six, who submitted their bids on 19 February 2007. They will be allowed to visit plants of the Sesa Goa in the second week of March before submitting final bids by the end of March, a newspaper report said on Wednesday.

The successful bidder will also have to make an open offer to Sesa Goa shareholders to buy a further 20% stake.

Sesa Goa reported a net profit growth of 23% to Rs 194.94 crore for Q3 December 2006 versus Rs 157.85 crore in Q3 December 2005. Net sales for the December quarter rose 15% to Rs 587.89 crore (Rs 510.37 crore).