Zerodha, Swiggy, Razorpay among India's 10 biggest unlisted companies

 Serum Institute of India is the most valuable unlisted company in the country, followed by National Stock Exchange of India and the Megha Engineering and Infrastructure, according to the '2023 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500’ list of the  500 most valuable companies in India. 

Others that made it to the list are Zoho Corporation, Swiggy, Intas Pharmaceuticals, Dream11, Parle, Zerodha

To qualify for inclusion in the ‘2023 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500’ list, companies are required to have a minimum value of Rs 6,700 crore, equivalent to US$807 million. The average age of the companies in Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 is 38. The total value of the 2023 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies is Rs 231 trillion (US$2.8tn).

Top 10 of 2023 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500

With a value of Rs 15.6 trillion, Reliance Industries is India’s most valuable company, followed by Tata Consultancy Services with Rs 12.4 trillion and HDFC Bank with Rs 11.3 trillion.

Reliance Industries continues its reign in the top position for the third year in a row on the Burgundy Private Hurun India 500. With a value of Rs 15,64,663 crore, Reliance Industries is valued at least Rs 3 lakh crore more than TCS, which is number 2 on the list.

The merger of HDFC Ltd with HDFC Bank facilitated HDFC Bank to become the third Indian company to surpass Rs 10  trillion capitalization. HCL Technologies and Kotak Mahindra Bank make their return to the top 10 list.

Among emerging companies, the report showed that Suzlon Energy grew at the fastest pace. "Suzlon Energy, which registered a 436 per cent growth, dominates the list of fastest growing companies in 2023 followed by Jindal Stainless and JSW Infrastructure," the report added. By absolute value, the biggest gainers were HDFC Bank, Larsen & Tourbo & ITC.

Additionally, Jio Financial Services secured a 28th rank, after demerging from Reliance Industries.

The 2023 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 comprises of companies across 44 cities in India, led by Mumbai (156), Bengaluru (59) and New Delhi (39). The top three cities contributed 254 entrants – compared to 264 entrants in the 2022 India 500. 

More than half of the companies in the list registered a value growth of more than Rs 1000 crore over the last year of which 75 companies registered a value growth of more than Rs 10,000 crore. For example, Megha Engineering (up by 150 percent), manufacturing services startup Zetwerk (up by 100 percent) and Bennet Coleman (up by 100 percent), led the value growth (in percent) amongst the unlisted companies in the list.

Financial Services and Healthcare sectors lead the pack with 76 and 58 companies respectively, closely followed by Consumer Goods, which boasts of 38 companies in the list.

The services Industry is the Largest Value Creator of the Year. Led by Info Edge (India) (ranked #88), which grew by 4.5%.

The average age of the 2023 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 is 38 years. 21 companies have a history of more than 100 years, of which EID-Parry (India) is more than 200 years old.  

153 companies were founded in this millennium of which 52 are less than 10 years old, led by GlobalBees, Mensa Brands, Zepto, Motherson Sumi Wiring India, Apna, and CRED.

Amitabh Chaudhry, MD and CEO, Axis Bank said the companies featured in the list have collectively created a value of Rs 231 lakh crore for their stakeholders. About 52 firms in the list are less than a decade old. The eight companies in the Adani Group have a combined value of Rs 9.9 lakh crore and constitute 4.3% of the total value of 500 top companies.

During the review period, the value of the Adani Group companies decreased by 50 per cent or Rs 9,92,953 crore. However, since the Supreme court ruling (in favour of Adani Group) on the Adani-Hindenberg verdict, which fell beyond the review period, Adani Group regained Rs 4,72,636 crore in value, as on 17 January 2024. 

Startup funding and valuation continued their downward trajectory

 Startups in the list cumulatively lost Rs 4 trillion, led by Byjus, Dealshare, and Pharmeasy; which failed to make it to the list this year.

Not all was gloomy for Indian startups - In 2023, the cumulative value of the six unicorns listed on Indian exchanges gained Rs 62,837 crore, signifying a marked improvement compared to the valuation loss of Rs 1,66,013 crore in 2022.

 

With a value of$ 1.1 billion, Incred Finance is India’s newest unicorn to debut in the 2023 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500.