500 THE SURGING STARS

FIRMS THAT ARE PART OF THE BT500 UNIVERSE HAVE HAD A PRETTY GOOD YEAR. THE CONSOLIDATED MARKET CAP OF THESE COMPANIES JUMPED NEARLY 40% OVER THE PAST YEAR. BUT GOING AHEAD THESE FIRMS WILL HAVE TO NAVIGATE MANY CHALLENGES

- ANAND ADHIKARI

BETWEEN OCTOBER 2023 and September 2024, the BSE Sensex—the stock market’s barometer—jumped 28%, climbing from the 65,828-mark in September 29, 2023 to an impressive 84,300 on September 30, 2024. This upswing in the 30-share BSE Sensex wasn’t just numbers on a chart; it also represented massive wealth creation. But the markets have been in a correction mode since then.

Nearly ₹102 lakh crore was added to the market capitalisation (m-cap) of the BT500 companies, bringing their total valuation to a staggering ₹363 lakh crore. To put that in perspective, the Union government had proposed a budget of ₹100 lakh crore for infrastructure over five years in 2019-20—a figure this surge in m-cap has matched in just 12 months. And the Top 4 companies on the BT500 list—Reliance Industries Ltd, TCS, and HDFC Bank, respectively—have retained their ranks from 2023.

What’s striking is this year’s growth—the strongest in three years. Last year, the m-cap of the BT500 companies inched up 4%, while the rise was 26% in 2022. This time, investors bought on every fall, despite a tough economic situation. In fact, there was no impact on the stock price of foreign investors or Indian promoters selling equity to raise more funds via the QIP route. While a K-shaped economic recovery is a reality, company sales in the first half of FY25 hint at some pain. Plus, geopolitical tensions are shifting from Russia-Ukraine to the Middle East. Let us take a closer look at how these factors are reshaping the landscape.

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