HDFC, Tata groups overtake RIL as bigger market movers

After losing out to Tatas as the most valued business house, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance group has now slipped to the third position in terms of a corporate group's influence in moving the stock market benchmark Sensex.

On a stand-alone basis, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) remains the most influential of the 30-stock BSE Sensex, but it ranks below HDFC and Tatas taking into account cumulative weightage of their group companies on the index.

As per the information available with BSE, RIL's weight in Sensex is 10.73%, which is bigger than any other stock on the index.

But, it is lower than Tata group's 11.17% and HDFC group's 12.1% at the group level.

About a year ago, RIL's weight was much higher at 14.16% at the end of June 2010, which was biggest among all Sensex constituents, not only on a single company basis but also at the group level.

The Ratan Tata-led salt-to-software conglomerate has four companies on the Sensex, which also has two companies from Deepak Parekh-led HDFC group -- the flagship housing finance giant HDFC and private banking major HDFC Bank.

In comparison, RIL is the single Sensex company from the Mukesh Ambani-led group, which has only one more listed entity Reliance Industrial Infra Ltd.

Still, RIL has enjoyed the position of the most influential stock, not only on stand-alone but also on group basis, for a long time and movement in this stock has been crucial for any major fall or rise in the Sensex.

But, experts said, scenario seems to be changing as the benchmark Sensex rallied by more than 500 points last Friday without a single-point contribution from RIL, experts said.

They noted that it was an unprecedented development that the index has rallied by such a momentum without any help from its biggest heavyweight stock.

Sensex rose by 513.19 points or 2.9% on Friday, even as RIL remained flat with a 0.03% slip.

Commenting on RIL's under-performance, Way2Wealth's Chief Operating Officer Ambareesh Baliga said: "RIL hasn't been a contributor to the market movement specially on the positive side for a very long time."

"When the markets have fallen at that point of time RIL was a contributor. Last week, when the markets fell below 18,000-mark, Reliance was a contributor. In the fall it is a contributor but in the move up its not, because the stock has been a under-performer," he added.

RIL's Sensex weight has been falling over the past many months mostly because of the under-performance of the stock and a relatively better show by others.