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SingTel most-valued MNC on Indian bourses
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 08 January 2009, 20:47 IST
New Delhi: SingTel, which is holding more than 30 percent of the country's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel, retained its position as the most-valued MNC in the Indian stock market, in terms of the market value of equity holding in the domestic firms.
The second slot was occupied FMCG major Unilever by pipping UK's Cairn Energy, says an Economic Times study. American MNCs did not figure in the top 10 list, which was dominated by European and Asian companies.
Cairn, which was the big entrant in the top 10 list last year, dropped to the third slot, marginally ahead of British American Tobacco (BAT), which holds 32 percent in diversified cigarette and FMCG firm ITC and a similar stake in South India-based tobacco company VST Industries.
The study examined the market value of the MNCs' equity holding in listed Indian companies and compared the change in value between January 1, 2008, and January 1, 2009.
The study did not include unlisted companies, explaining the absence of large MNCs in India such as Nokia, IBM, Coke, Pepsi, Microsoft, LG, Hyundai, GE, HP, StanChart and Citibank. Moreover, Vodafone has a much bigger exposure in India than what is captured by its 4.9 percent stake in Bharti Airtel.
The study also kept out the equity holding of foreign asset management companies, which would have invested billions in the Indian stock market.
Since Uniliver's Indian Subsidiary Hindustan Unilever has increased its market capitalization by 15 percent during the period the gap between SingTel and Unilever (top two MNCs) has narrowed. Meanwhile Bharti Airtel's market capitalization has dropped by 25 percent.
The other MNCs in the top 10 list include Swiss cement maker Holcim, which holds stakes in Ambuja Cements and ACC; Nestle, Suzuki (Maruti Suzuki), Bosch, Vodafone and Daiichi Sankyo (Ranbaxy).