By picking up 50 shares of Ranbaxy for a consideration of Rs 25,000, an investor can double his holding to 100 and in the process, bring down average cost to Rs 250 per share. The 51 per cent German subsidiary of BASF AG, BASF India's scrip is available at an effective price of Rs 135. BASF's scrip is currently trading at Rs 202 and the company recently rewarded its shareholders with a bonus in the ratio of one share for every two held. The stock is already down from a recent high of Rs 314 recorded in April thisyear. BASF India has also proposed a dividend of Rs 3.50 per share.

Another pharma stock, Knoll Pharmaceuticals is going cheap at an effective price of Rs 331. The stock at Rs 662 is trading at a cum-bonus and cum-dividend price. The company has also declared Rs 8 per share. Knoll Pharmceuticals, earlier known as Boots Pharmaceuticals, is mainly in the business of formulations and consumer products. The company has a strong book value of over Rs 126 and the equity will swell to only Rs 16.2 crore even after a liberal bonus of 1:1.

On other hand, BASF is a leading player in the domestic leather Chemicals market, which contributes almost 35 per cent to the company's total turnover of around Rs 300 crore. The company reported a 45 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 17 crore for the year ended March 1998.

Ranbaxy, India's second largest pharma company announced a bonus in the ratio of 1:1 and the current cum-bonus price is only Rs 499 on the BSE. The scrip in the recent past crashed from a high of Rs 751to the current level of Rs 499 in almost two months. The company reported a decent performance in 1997-98 although the export growth was affected due to price restrictions in China and the slowdown in the South-east Asia. At the same time, new product launches and enhancement of its product portfolio would help overcome these minor hiccups. For 1998-99, the net profit has been projected at Rs 280 crore.

As many as nine scrips are currently trading at a cum-bonus price. Apart from Ranbaxy, BASF and Knoll Pharmaceuticals, Berger Paints, Hoechst Agro, Elgi Tyres, JB Chemicals, Indo National and Jayshree Tea are trading at their cum-bonus prices. The crash in Sensex has made these scrip attractive for investors looking for long term investments. Apart from these cum-bonus scrips, stocks like Aptech, Smithkline Pharmaceuticals and Hindustan Lever Chemicals have gone ex-bonus in the last week only and are available at attractive levels. Hind Lever Chemicals, part of the Lever group started its ex-bonus tradingonly on June 22 at Rs 340 and after seeing a low of Rs 332 closed the day at Rs 341. Smithkline Pharmaceuticals too after a bonus of 1:1 is going cheap at an ex-bonus price of Rs 320.