India today managed to hold onto the elite league of 14 countries with a trillion-dollar stock market, although by a small margin, with a market size just hovering over this mark at $1.0116 trillion.
As the market barometer Sensex plunged to a 28-month low, the total size of the market today dipped to Rs 5,348,352.02 crore, measured in terms of total value of all the listed companies in the country.
At the currency rate of Rs 52.87 against the US dollar at the end of day, the Indian market was worth $1,011.6 billion in the American currency.
At the day's lowest level of rupee at Rs 53.25, the market size was $1004.4 billion -- retaining the trillion-dollar tag by a whisker.
In percentage terms, the market is just about 1% away from losing its trillion-dollar size and an equivalent fall in either the stock market or the rupee value could take the market below this mark.
The rupee has been a declining trend for many months now and had hit its record low level below Rs 54-level last week, but the fall has been somewhat arrested since then on the back of an intervention by the Reserve Bank.
More From This Section
The market size has been hovering above the trillion- dollar mark for last few days and an eminent miss was averted on Thursday last week, when the Reserve Bank of India managed to reverse the downfall of rupee after a record fall to Rs 54.30 level.
On Friday, the market size stood at Rs 54,11,301 crore or $1.026 trillion, based on that day's currency rate of Rs 52.30, as the market tanked sharply.
The experts say that India could slip out of the coveted league of trillion-dollar stock markets anytime in the event of any noticeable fall in the rupee value or the stock market.
Besides India, there are an estimated 13 countries in the trillion-dollar stock market club and these include, the US, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Japan, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and France.
Earlier this year, Russia moved out of this league, while the valuation of a pan-regional stock market for the Nordic region in Europe has also slipped below $one trillion.
The Indian market had first achieved a trillion-dollar size about four and half years ago on May 28, 2007, but moved out of this coveted league about a year later on July 1, 2008.
India again joined this elite club of markets with trillion-dollar valuation about a year later on June 3, 2009.
The Indian market was, in fact, seen inching towards the two-trillion dollar mark at least twice in the past -- first in early 2008 and then at the beginning of 2011 with a size as high as $1.9 trillion.
However, a sharp plunge in the market this year has led to its valuation falling by close to Rs 20 lakh crore (over $500 billion) and currently faces a high risk of losing its trillion-dollar tag.