Booming market expands the trillion-dollar club

Powered by surging markets, seven companies, Reliance Communications (R-Com) and stock market debutant DLF among them, have joined the Rs 1 trillion (Rs 1,00,000 crore) club in terms of market capitalisation.

They join five incumbents, taking total membership of this elite club to 12, more than double of last year's five.

The new entrants are a mixed bag of government-owned and private companies across a range of industries.

There are hard-core engineering and mining companies like National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and Bhel - both in the public sector - and Larsen & Toubro.

Service companies like Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile services provider, ICICI Bank, the country's largest private bank, and public sector State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, are other entrants to this exclusive club.

The five that continue to be in the Rs 1 trillion club, are ONGC, the government-run oil and gas explorer and producer, NTPC, the public sector power producer, Reliance Industries, India's largest private company, and IT majors Infosys Technologies and TCS (see table).

 

THE RS 1 TRILLION CLUB
Company	Market cap as on (Rs trillion)
	11-Oct-06	11-Oct-07	% change
Reliance Ind	1.59	3.66	130.03
ONGC	1.61	2.28	41.70
Bharti Airtel	0.90	2.08	131.63
NTPC	1.07	1.83	70.83
DLF	0.97	1.57	61.44
Reliance Com	0.69	1.52	119.25
ICICI Bank	0.76	1.21	58.58
BHEL	0.57	1.19	108.77
Infosys Tech	1.13	1.13	0.00
TCS	1.02	1.05	2.57
NMDC	0.33	1.03	212.89
SBI	0.53	1.02	93.51
Rs 1 lakh crore = Rs 1 trillion

The trillion-rupee club now has five public sector companies against just two a year ago. Two others - MMTC (Rs 97,312 crore) and Steel Authority of India (Rs 92,934 crore) - are waiting in the wings.

The 12 companies in the club also account for over a third (34 per cent) of the total market cap of stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

They have an aggregate market capitalisation of Rs 19.56 trillion to the BSE's total market capitalisation of Rs 57.08 trillion.

Three companies have over $50 billion market cap - Reliance Industries, ONGC and Bharti Airtel. The boom in the stock market has also helped Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani become the world's richest Indian.

Ambani has overtaken NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who owns shares worth about $48.4 billion in ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker in terms of revenue, assets and market value.