India Inc’s billion dollar club swells during devastating Covid second wave

MUMBAI: A record 357 companies listed on the bourses now have a market capitalisation of more than $1 billion helped by the strong rally seen in midcap and smallcap stocks over the past three months.

The number of companies with a market capitalisation of $1 billion has increased by 22 since February, when it stood at 335. Back in February, India stood fourth on the list of countries with the highest number of companies with a market capitalization of more than $1 billion, just behind the UK’s 351 companies.

The increase in the number of billion-dollar companies in the listed space is an indication of the bountifulness of the ongoing bull market despite a raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that made India a hotspot.

While benchmark indices remained largely unchanged in the face of the tragic second wave that started in March, the Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 index have risen 13 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, in the three-month period ended May.

Companies with market capitalisation of more than $25 billion also hit their record high of 22, as on May 31, a report by

showed. The $100 billion club remained static with Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services and the only members.