 "Anil Agarwal, Ambanis lose the most in Modi regime")
For India’s top business houses, the first 15 months of the Narendra Modi government have been a roller-coaster ride. While the promoters of information technology, pharmaceutical and consumer goods companies have gained, those of old-economy businesses such as metals, energy, power and infrastructure have seen a sharp decline in their net worth since May 26 last year, the day the National Democratic Alliance government was sworn in.
Among the promoters of the country’s top businesses houses, Anil Agarwal of Vedanta has been the biggest loser, followed by Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries.
Among the gainers, Siddhartha Lal of Eicher group (net worth up 151.1%) tops the list, followed by the Ruias of Essar Group (up 111.4%) and Desh Bandhu Gupta of Lupin (up 104%). All three have more than doubled their net worth, thanks to a strong rally in the stocks of their group companies.
Anil Agarwal’s net worth is down 44% to Rs 64,000 crore from Rs 1.16 lakh crore on May 26, 2014. A sharp decline in the stocks of his group companies has cost Agarwal the second spot on the list of top promoters. He is now ranked fifth, behind the HCL group’s Shiv Nadar and marginally ahead of the Bharti group’s Sunil Mittal.
Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani remains the country’s richest businessman, though with a reduced net worth Rs 1.22 lakh crore, against Rs 1.61 lakh crore a year earlier).
His younger brother, Anil Ambani, has seen a steeper fall in net worth and is now out of the top-20 list. His net worth is down 55% — from Rs 45,122 crore to Rs 20,000 crore.
Among traditional business houses, Adanis and Tatas gained while Kumar Mangalam Birla of AV Birla group saw a marginal dip in his networth.
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Gautam Adani along with his family, is now worth Rs 49,000 crore, up from around Rs 40,000 crore last year, owing to a sharp slide in the Adani Enterprises and Adani Power stocks in the past 15 months.
The Tatas, India’s top business group, have retained their top slot on the list and gained under the NDA government, thanks to a double-digit rise in the market value of Tata Consultancy Services during the period.
TCS’s market capitalisation is up 18% since May 26, 2014, more than compensating for the decline in the market value of other major companies of the group such as Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Power and Tata Global Beverages.
In all, the value of Tata Sons’ investments in the group’s listed companies is up 10.6% at Rs 4.34 lakh crore. Experts say the rise or fall in net worth depends on the portfolios of companies in various business houses — those with diversified portfolios such as the Tatas and the AV Birla group have either gained or weathered the recent turmoil in the stock market. “It’s all about portfolio. Currently, the market is rewarding service sector companies or low-capital intensive manufacturing companies, while punishing heavy manufacturing and high-leveraged ones. This favours some promoters and goes against others,” says G Chokkalingam, founder and chief executive of Equinomics Research & Advisory.
This explains the rapid rise in the wealth of the promoters of IT companies, automakers and pharmaceutical companies. Siddhartha Lal of Eicher Motors is the biggest gainer, with a rise of two and half times in net worth. He is now worth Rs 27,000 crore, compared to his net worth of Rs 10,735 crore on the day the Modi government was sworn in. The Essar Group’s Ruia brothers have more than doubled their net worth to Rs 29,100 crore from Rs 13,772 crore last year, thanks to a sharp rally in the Essar Oil stock. The net worth of Lupin’s Desh Bandhu Gupta doubled to Rs 38,987 crore from about Rs 19,000 crore last year. The market’s love for fast-growing pharmaceutical companies also helped Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma (net worth up 47.8%) and Pankaj Patel of Cadila Healthcare (up 94%). Fortune also favoured the promoters of automakers and consumer goods companies, with high double-digit rises in the net worth of the Asian Paints promoters, Burmans of Dabur and the Godrej family.
By comparison, Sunil Mittal and Kumar Mangalam Birla just about managed to maintain their net worth during the period. In all, the top 20 promoters are now worth Rs 13.9 lakh crore compared with Rs 12.56 crore on May 24 last year, a rise of 10%.
CLARIFICATION:
This article has replaced an earlier version to correct mistakes.The errors are regretted.
CLARIFICATION:
This article has replaced an earlier version to correct mistakes.The errors are regretted.