BSE market cap still far from all-time peak

A poor performance by most of the public sector undertakings (PSU) stocks and a sharp fall in market price of the private companies from the sectors such as refineries, metal, infrastructure and power

Though the benchmark indices touched a new high on Monday, the combined market capitalisation (m-cap) of companies listed on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) are still below their peak levels touched in November 2010.

Currently, BSE’s total m-cap stands at Rs 69,17,345 crore, about Rs 8,00,000 crore lower than the level three years ago, data from Capitaline show. BSE’s total m-cap stood at Rs 77,61,114 crore as of November 5, 2010, the day the benchmark indices hit an all-time high. The aggregate m-cap of all companies listed on the NSE is Rs 8,00,343 crore lower than its peak levels. Currently, NSE’s total m-cap stands at Rs 68,00,961 crore, against Rs 76,01,304 crore in 2010.

<B>Global ranking</B><BR>
Globally, India is eleventh in terms of m-cap. In 2010, it ranked eighth; since then, Germany, Australia and Switzerland have surpassed it. In the global m-cap kitty, India’s contribution has declined from 3.39 per cent as of November 5, 2010, to 1.88 per cent, Bloomberg data show. This is despite the fact that the total trading scrips on BSE rising from 2,897 in November 2010 to 3,379. Bharti Infratel, L&T Finance Holdings, Just Dial, MOIL and Muthoot Finance are among the companies that were listed during this period.

<B>Winners and laggards</B><BR>
The poor performance of most public sector undertaking (PSU) stocks and a sharp fall in the market price of private companies in sectors such as refineries, metal, infrastructure and power have dragged the BSE m-cap lower. In absolute terms, the overall m-cap of 74 listed PSUs fell 45 per cent to Rs 13,46,563 crore from Rs 24,39,460 crore.

MMTC and State Bank of India have seen their m-cap being eroded by about Rs 100,000 crore each. The m-caps of Bhel, NMDC, SAIL and Indian Oil declined Rs 50,000-85,000 crore, while those of Coal India, Oils and Natural Gas Corporation and NTPC declined Rs 35,000-45,000 crore.

In the private space, RIL is trading 20 per cent below its November 2010 level. The company has seen m-cap erosion of Rs 73,010 crore during this period. The m-caps of Adani Enterprises, Jindal Steel and Power, DLF, Adani Power, L&T, Reliance Power, Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite declined about Rs 20,000 crore each.

However, a sharp rally in heavyweight stocks such as Tata Consultancy Services, ITC and HDFC Bank have helped the benchmark indices touch a new high. TCS has added a whopping Rs 1,91,767 crore to the total BSE m-cap since November 2010, after the stock surged 93 per cent. The ITC stock rose 81 per cent, adding Rs 1,14,007 crore to its m-cap. Sun Pharma, HUL, HCL, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors and Idea Cellular have added m-cap of Rs 35,000-75,000 crore to the BSE’s kitty.