TCS shines on debut, nets 16% premium

Stock opens at Rs 1,050, a premium of 23.5% before closing at Rs 987.50.

The Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) scrip made a sparkling debut, listing at Rs 1,050 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), a 23.5 per cent premium over the issue price of Rs 850 per share.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the stock listed at Rs 1,198, a smart 41.8 per cent premium over the issue price.

Speaking at the TCS listing ceremony at the NSE, TCS Chairman Ratan Tata said: "The opening of the scrip was very encouraging. The Indian investors (in the IPO) were as enthusiastic about the issue as the global investors."

Foreign institutional investors currently hold a 5 per cent stake in TCS, the Tata group holds 85.42 per cent, mutual funds have a 1.5 per cent stake and the public holding is 6.5 per cent.

Minutes after listing, the TCS counter saw a huge block deal of 820,000 shares at Rs 1053.70 on the NSE. According to dealing room sources, Solomon Smith Barney was the seller, but the identity of the buyer could not be ascertained.

The TCS stock rose to a intra-day high of Rs 1,080 but declined later to a low of Rs 979, before closing at Rs 987.50 on the BSE, a 16.17 per cent premium over the offer price. The stock closed at Rs 987.95 on the NSE.

TCS topped the volumes chart on the bourses and accounted for 36 per cent of the total turnover. More than 6.521 million shares were traded on the BSE and over 17.1 million shares were traded on the NSE today. More than 7 million shares, accounting for 11 per cent of the issue size, were traded for delivery.

A string of firsts

• TCS is the first scrip to rank among the top five in market capitalisation on debut
• TCS' market cap is almost equal to the combined market cap of all other listed group companies.
• TCS displaced Infosys to become the IT stock with the largest market capitalisation
• TCS topped the turnover rankings on the BSE and NSE, with a combined turnover of Rs 2,373 crore.

In the NSE's futures and options segment, TCS futures were also the most traded counter after Nifty futures. The counter registered contracts of more than Rs 1,000 crore.

At the end of day one, 4,94,550 contracts in the August series were added to the open interest positions and 16,40,250 September contracts were added on the first day of its listing. Call contracts with a strike price of Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,100 were the most active contracts in today's trading.

Speaking at the listing ceremony, TCS Managing Director S Ramadorai said TCS would first take up projects of national importance.

"We are going to China, Latin America and Eastern Europe," he added. He said TCS would opt for dilution of equity only if it was required for the growth of the company. TCS would go for overseas listing after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) came out with regulations on cross-border listing, he said.

Hemandra Kothari, chairman, DSP Merill Lynch, thanked the investor community, the brokers and the agencies associated with the issue.