European cos hit the home run

NEW DELHI: An ET study that captures to the last detail the MNC movements in terms of their investment in India through their holdings in listed companies has thrown up some useful information nuggets.

MNCs who square up in the top 10 list include Oracle through its stake in i-flex Solutions, Suzuki through automaker Maruti, Siemens, Holcim through its stakes in top two cement makers ACC and Gujarat Ambuja, apart from Swiss power and automation technology major ABB. Cairn and Oracle have broken into the league by replacing Nestle and Glaxo.

If there is one striking aspect of the list of large multinationals, it is the predominance of European MNCs. While US-based companies have been dominant in the financial services and IT sector in India, most of the large companies therein are wholly-owned subsidiaries and their market value cannot be ascertained for comparison.

There are two Asian MNCs who figure in the elite list of companies having billion dollar babies in India — SingTel and Suzuki. Incidentally, Oracle is the only US-based MNC whose equity investment in India is valued more than $1 billion in the market. Other relatively large US firms are into pharma and consumer goods business, but rank much lower down the order.

In total, there are 14 multinationals whose stakes in the stock market are valued at more than a billion dollar. This has remained unchanged compared to last year though it is a big change in comparison to two years ago when only four MNCs — Unilever, BAT, SingTel and Suzuki — had equity valuation of more than a billion dollar in India. At the same time, the number of MNCs with valuation of $2 billion plus has increased from five to eight from last year.

There are also some swings in and out of the billion-dollar club vis-à-vis the previous year. While Honda, which has holdings in Hero Honda and Honda Siel Power Products, and P&G, which has stakes in Gillette and P&G Hygiene, dropped out of the list of MNCs with billion dollar plus equity value, Cairn and British Telecom (through Tech Mahindra) have managed to make the cut.