99% of Tata stocks reel under pressure but rupee helps group survive market blues

NEW DELHI: The BSE Sensex might have fallen around 10 per cent from its record high of 38,989 hit on August 29, but it has had little impact on the Tata stocks as a whole.

Nifty Tata group, an index tracking Tata group stocks on a full market capitalisation basis (and not on free-float basis) stood almost flat at 6,870.36 on Wednesday against 6,868.30 as of August 29.

Data showed the salt-to-software group, whose 26 listed firms command a total market capitalisation of Rs 11.5 lakh crore on BSE, lost a mere 1.25 per cent, or Rs 14,642 crore, in the recent selloff, which knocked nearly 3,650 points off the BSE barometer.


The group managed to restrict losses, even as 99 per cent of its listed shares tumbled up to 36 per cent in last 24 sessions, thanks to a fall in the rupee, which aided the shares of TCS, the most valuable stock on BSE.

TCS alone commands over 70 per cent of group’s market capitalisation. (See table)

Analysts noted that the 4.5 per cent slide in the rupee during September quarter may alone aid top five IT firms’ margins by up to 110 basis points on a QoQ basis.

“We expect margins at the top five IT companies to expand, driven by rupee. This alone should aid 80–110 bps margin expansion during the quarter. With the wage hike behind, TCS is expected to lead the pack with expansion of 180 bps QoQ,” said Edelweiss Securities in a note.

On the revenue front too, TCS is expected to lead the IT pack.

“TCS is likely to lead with 3.9 per cent QoQ, followed by HCL Technologies at 2.9 per cent QoQ and Infosys at 2.8 per cent QoQ,” said Nomura India.

Data suggests none other Tata group stocks gave positive returns during the 24 sessions. But TCS added Rs 20,527 crore to the group’s market cap till Wednesday (from August 29), data compiled by ETMarkets.com suggests.

Titan Company, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power Company and Voltas, the five other biggest group stocks by m-cap, fell between 2 per cent and 11 per cent during this period.

Overall, the group’s m-cap as of Wednesday stood at Rs 11.48 lakh crore against Rs 11.64 lakh crore on August 29.

TRF, Nelco, Tinplate Company Of India, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), Automotive Stampings & Assemblies, Oriental Hotels, Automobile Corporation of Goa, Voltas and Tata Elxsi are nine group stocks which declined between 15 per cent and 35 per cent during the period.