Fast Moving Consumer Goods major Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) has been displaced from the Big Three Club in terms of market capitalisation (M-cap). HLL has slipped to the eighth slot from third position a year ago.The M-cap slippage relates to the rankings on August 20, 2004 compared to the figures registered on August 20, 2003. Indian Oil has now come to occupy third place in the M-cap sweepstakes.Tobacco-to-hotels major ITC Ltd has now outpaced HLL and ranks seventh, while Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd (BTVL) has leapt to the sixth position from a distant 15th last year. Infosys Technologies now stands at fourth position, one notch higher while Wipro has jumped two positions to rank as fifth in terms of market capitalisation.The A-group’s total market capitalisation has grown by Rs 2,16,619 crore (29.6 per cent) to Rs 9,48,793 crore as on August 20, 2004 from Rs 7,32,174 crore on August 20, 2003. During this period, the BSE Sensex added about 1008.1 points or 24.8 per cent from 4056.6 to 5064.6 points.The M-cap of Indian Oil has increased by Rs 7,025 crore during this period to Rs 45,050 crore. The healthy first quarter performance of the company did the trick. The net profit of Indian Oil increased by 55.8 per cent to Rs 1,472 crore during April-June 2004 from the level of Rs 945 crore during April-June 2003. The company’s revenues decreased marginally by 0.5 per cent to Rs 31,651 crore during April-June 2004.HLL’s net profits and revenues decreased 43.1 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively, during the same period. This poor performance has accounted for the company slipping sharply on the M-cap front subsequently.Bharti Tele-Ventures moved to the sixth slot by adding Rs 15,161 crore to its M-cap from the 15th position on August 20, 2003. ONGC, the, has kept its position intact and the company’s value, as measured by the stock market, increased by Rs 20,904 to Rs 98,275 crore. Reliance Industries also hung on to its number two position and the market value of the company increased Rs 13,240 crore during the study period.Of the 197 stocks figuring in the A-group, 17 have shown more than 100 per cent growth in M-cap during the period under review. The biggest gainers are IT and PSU stocks, while some of the chemical and pharma stocks like Nirma, Castrol and Dr Reddys saw value erosion.
