84% BSE stocks still trading at a share price below their pre-Covid high

Less than 1% of firms now account for 50% of BSE market cap

The rally on Dalal Street after the March 2020 low has been billed as among the broadest, with wide participation of mid- and small-cap stocks. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices made new life-time highs in January and February this year, within weeks of the benchmark BSE Sensex reaching a fresh peak. The Sensex and Nifty50 made fresh life-time highs in November 2020 and made further gains after that.

The stock price movement of individual stocks, however, suggests that the Indian equity market remains polarised as ever, and most of the gains in the market capitalisation accrued to a handful of