Market cap of 18 new stocks touches $1 bn

The general market buoyancy and the rupee appreciation have resulted in 18 new stocks' market capitalisation touching $1 billion, taking the number of $1 billion m-cap stocks to 149.

The $1 billion m-cap is based on the rupee-dollar exchange rates at the end of each calendar year. Monday's market capitalisation was calculated on an exchange rate of Rs 40.68 per dollar. The dollar has depreciated by almost 8 per cent from 44.12 on February 7, 2007, to 40.70 on May 21.

On February 7, when the S&P CNX Nifty hit an all-time high, there were 135 stocks with $1 billion m-cap. Of this, Ansal Properties, Nagarjuna Constructions, Lanco Infratech and Shree Cement fell below the $1 billion mark on Monday. 

TE DEBUTANTS
Mkt-cap	(in Rs cr)		(in Rs cr)
Idea Cellular	30,412	Reliance Natural	4,626
Power Finance	17,044	Wockhardt	4,552
Indiabulls Real Est	6,956	Max India	4,480
Indian Bank	5,527	Andhra Bank	4,346
Dish Tv	5,286	Syndicate Bank	4,246
Moser Baer	5,130	Praj Ind	4,222
Tata Tea	4,960	Cadila Healthcare	4,140
TV 18	4,808	Chennai Petro	4,037
Deccan Chronicle	4,677	Petronet LNG	4,016

Four stocks from the banking sector, two each from entertainment and pharmaceuticals, one each from constructions, engineering, information technology, telecommunication, shipping, finance, hotels, steel, power, and cement are the new entrants.

The 149 companies collectively account for 81 per cent m-cap of the BSE.

Eight stocks - Reliance Industries, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Bharti Airtel, National Thermal Power Corporation, TCS, Infosys Technologies, Reliance Communications and ICICI Bank "" have a market capitalisation over $20 billion.

Of the entire lot, 19 companies have a market capitalisation of $10 billion against 13 in 2006, 7 in 2005 and 3 in 2004 - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Reliance Industries and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). In 2002, only ONGC had a total market capitalisation of $10.4 billion (Rs 49,876 crore).

Reliance Industries tops the list with its market cap crossing $60 billion to $60.36 billion (Rs 2,45,560 crore). The company's market cap has appreciated by over $16.31 billion (Rs 51,188 crore) in last one-and-half months from $44.06 billion (Rs 1,94,372 crore) on February 7.

ONGC comes second at $49.09 billion (Rs 1,99,685 crore). Bharti Airtel stood at third with $39.65 billion (Rs 1,61,277 crore). NTPC $31.64 billion (Rs 1,28,712 crore), TCS $29.76 billion (Rs 1,21,048 crore) at fourth and fifth place respectively, followed by Infosys Technologies $27.57 billion (Rs 1,12,163 crore), Reliance Communications $25.45 billion (Rs 1,03,519 crore) and ICICI Bank $20.78 billion (Rs 84,528 crore).