India Inc strikes it rich on BSE

Corporates have gained Rs 17,200 cr in 16 months on their investments.

The value of India Inc's investment in the stock market has swelled by Rs 17,200 crore over the last 16 months.

The book value of corporate sector's investment in quoted securities was Rs 18,808 crore on March 31, 2005. This included a fresh investment of Rs 6,000 crore made during the year.

The market value of this investment was Rs 31,500 crore in March end this year. Riding high on the bull run in the stock markets, this kitty further appreciated by Rs 4,500 crore taking their market value to Rs 36,000 crore by July end. 

Top 10 gainers
Rs crore	Value of corporate invesments
	as on Mar 31, 2005		Current value	Gains
	Bk value	Mkt value
Tata Steel	312.90	1952.43	2235.53	1922.63
Bajaj Auto	4291.99	5033.64	5763.52	1471.53
Reliance Inds	3469.03	4156.40	4759.08	1290.05
Tata Invest Corp	295.14	1267.74	1451.56	1156.42
Tata Motors	431.91	1260.85	1443.67	1011.76
Grasim Inds	2243.14	2704.57	3096.73	853.59
Tata Chemicals	135.86	757.26	867.06	731.20
Hindalco Inds	243.42	802.59	918.97	675.55
Parry Agro Inds	113.09	680.97	779.71	666.62
Jindal South	343.15	667.79	764.62	421.47
Mah Scooters	110.67	437.33	500.74	390.07

The rise in market value of their investment does not necessarily add to the bottom line of Indian Inc. Only when it books profits do the funds generated add to their bottom line. Moreover, most of these investments are in group companies.

However, as their investments appreciated, the stock market valuation of these companies went up as the market priced in this factor, one analyst pointed out.

This study is based on the market value of quoted investment of 705 companies on March 31, 2005. The data have been sourced from Capitaline Plus, the corporate data package maintained by the capital markets.

Tata Steel is the biggest beneficiary of the stock market "boom" with its quoted investments of Rs 313 crore appreciating by over Rs 1,900 crore. Tata Steel has investments in group companies such as Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tata Investment and others.

Bajaj Auto is the second biggest gainer of stock markets boom with its market value of its quoted investment rising by over Rs 1,470 crore. Bajaj Auto has total investment of Rs 4,292 crore, which is currently valued at Rs 5,763 crore. The company has invested Rs 394 crore in ICICI Bank which is now valued at Rs 1,236 crore.

Reliance Industries is the third largest gainers in the list with its investment in group companies appreciating by Rs 1,290 crore. Tata Investment raked in Rs 1,156 crore through its quoted investments of Rs 295 crore.

The company has investment in 21 sectors, with major being banks, cement, chemicals and fertilizers, energy, engineering, automobile, IT, oil and others.

Tata group flagship Tata Motors gained Rs 1,011 crore on its investment of Rs 431 crore, Grasim Industries, flagship of the AV Birla group, raked in Rs 854 crore through its investments of Rs 2,243 crore. Tata Chemicals gained Rs 731 crore and Hindalco Rs 675 crore.