The combined market capitalisation of six of India's 10 most-valued companies increased by more than Rs 1 lakh crore during the week, with Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Finance emerging as the biggest gainers, as domestic equity markets ended the week on a positive note.
The broader market witnessed sustained buying interest, with benchmark indices extending their gains amid encouraging macroeconomic indicators, robust GST collections and improving industrial activity. During the week, the BSE Sensex advanced 663.44 points, or 0.86 per cent, while the NSE Nifty gained 214.85 points, or 0.89 per cent.
According to Ajit Mishra, Senior Vice President (Research) at Religare Broking Ltd, investor sentiment remained upbeat as strong domestic economic fundamentals continued to support the market. He said healthy GST collections and improving industrial output reinforced confidence in the Indian economy, while expectations of a more accommodative global monetary policy after softer-than-expected US labour market data further boosted risk appetite.
Among the top-10 most-valued companies, Bharti Airtel recorded the largest increase in market valuation during the week. The telecom major added Rs 36,529.21 crore to its market capitalisation, taking its overall valuation to Rs 11,63,877.30 crore.
Bajaj Finance emerged as the second-biggest gainer, with its market capitalisation rising by Rs 33,059.83 crore to Rs 6,43,141.36 crore, reflecting continued investor confidence in the non-banking financial company's growth prospects.
Private sector lender ICICI Bank also posted strong gains, with its valuation increasing by Rs 16,084.29 crore to Rs 10,11,695.03 crore. State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) added Rs 8,601.99 crore to reach a market capitalisation of Rs 5,44,139.55 crore.
India's largest private lender, HDFC Bank, saw its market valuation rise by Rs 7,664.89 crore to Rs 12,33,646.33 crore, while fast-moving consumer goods giant Hindustan Unilever added Rs 6,461.38 crore, taking its market capitalisation to Rs 5,17,086.30 crore.
Collectively, these six companies added more than Rs 1 lakh crore in investor wealth during the week, benefiting from the positive momentum in domestic equities.
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On the other hand, four of the top-10 companies witnessed a decline in their market capitalisation. Engineering and infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) registered the steepest decline among the laggards, with its market valuation falling by Rs 26,572.20 crore to Rs 5,53,978.63 crore.
Reliance Industries, India's most valuable listed company, also saw its market capitalisation decline by Rs 18,945.56 crore to Rs 17,64,981.36 crore. The valuation of the country's largest public sector lender, State Bank of India (SBI), dropped by Rs 4,846.08 crore to Rs 9,59,891.92 crore.
Meanwhile, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT services exporter, recorded a marginal decline in valuation, with its market capitalisation slipping by Rs 1,031.15 crore to Rs 7,57,175.27 crore.
Despite the mixed performance among the country's biggest listed companies, the overall trend remained favourable as gains in six firms comfortably outweighed losses in the remaining four.
In terms of market capitalisation rankings, Reliance Industries retained its position as India's most valuable listed company. HDFC Bank remained the second most-valued firm, followed by Bharti Airtel in third place and ICICI Bank in fourth.
State Bank of India occupied the fifth position, while Tata Consultancy Services ranked sixth. Bajaj Finance secured the seventh spot, followed by Larsen & Toubro, Life Insurance Corporation of India and Hindustan Unilever, which completed the list of the country's 10 most-valued companies by market capitalisation.
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