Market capitalisation, a reflection of investor wealth, more than doubled in 2003-04. The 106 per cent rise in market capitalisation in the year is the highest ever in the history of the domestic stockmarket.
Moreover, all the 111 sectors tracked by the Business Standard Research Bureau ended the financial year with gains over March 31, 2003, levels.
The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex ended 70 points higher at 5,590.60 on heavy buying by domestic mutual funds and financial institutions on the last day of the current financial year.
Market capitalisation increased Rs 609,680 crore (Rs 6,096.80 billion) in 2003-04. Earlier, during the technology boom in 1999-2000, the market had gained Rs 459,264 crore (Rs 4,592.64 billion) in capitalisation. But following the technology meltdown, market capitalisation fell Rs 394,781 crore (Rs 3,947.81 billion).
The aggregate market capitalisation more than doubled from Rs 574,342 crore (Rs 5,743.42 billion) on March 31, 2003, to Rs 1,184,022 crore (Rs 1,1840.22 billion) on March 31, 2004. In comparison, Rs 64,000 crore (Rs 640 billion) market capitalisation was lost in the previous financial year.
During the financial year that has just ended, the market outperformed the Sensex, which climbed 83.4 per cent from 3,048.72 on March 31, 2003, to 5,590.60 on March 31, 2004. The market capitalisation of Sensex stocks increased 89.3 per cent [Rs 294,411 crore (Rs 2,944.11 billion)] from Rs 329,589 crore (Rs 3,295.89 billion) to Rs 624,000 crore (Rs 6,240 billion).
Public sector undertakings were the major wealth creators in the year, with their market capitalisation increasing Rs 238,357 crore (Rs 2,383.57 billion) [146.6 per cent].
The market capitalisation of all listed PSUs, including banks, increased from Rs 162,577 crore (Rs 1,625.77 billion) on March 31, 2003, to Rs 4,00,933 crore (Rs 4,009.33 billion) on March 31,2004.
Among PSUs, refinery stocks outperformed the market with average gains of 156 per cent. The market capitalisation of the refinery sector increased Rs 137,349 crore (Rs 1,373.49 billion) from Rs 88,174 crore (Rs 881.74 billion) to Rs 225,524 crore (Rs 2,255.24 billion). Banking stocks posted gains of Rs 72,075 crore (Rs 720.75 billion).
The other prominent sectors in the gainers' league were diversified companies [Rs 48,766 crore (Rs 487.66 billion)], pharmaceuticals [Rs 35,202 crore (Rs 352.02 billion)], telecommunications [Rs 31,365 crore (Rs 313.65 billion)], information technology [Rs 26,582 crore (Rs 265.82 billion)], power [Rs 20,148 crore (Rs 201.48 billion)] and composite and alloy steel [Rs 19,978 crore (Rs 199.78 billion)].
The other sectors that reported a gain of over Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in market capitalisation include aluminium [Rs 13,676 crore (Rs 136.76 billion)], commercial vehicles [Rs 13,588 crore (Rs 135.88 billion)], engineering [Rs 12,078 crore (Rs 120.78 billion)], non-banking finance companies [Rs 11,558 crore (Rs 115.58 billion)], two- and three-wheelers [Rs 11,558 crore (Rs 115.58 billion)] and cigarette companies [Rs 10,288 crore (Rs 102.88 billion)].
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