ONGC market valuation soars over Rs 2,000 cr

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today gained over Rs 2,000 crore in market valuation and consolidated its position as the third most valued company after the government approved the Cairn-Vedanta deal.

At the end of today's trade ONGC's market capitalisation (m-cap) increased to Rs 2.36 lakh crore from Rs 2.34 lakh crore yesterday.

Reacting to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs' (CCEA) approval to Cairn Energy for selling its Indian unit to Vedanta Resources, the ONGC scrip today opened on a bullish note on the Bombay Stock Exchange and rallied to an intra-day high of Rs 290.55, up 6% from its last closing price.

ONGC which was on a declining trend for the last three trading sessions added Rs 2,010 crore to its market valuation even as the broader market was in the negative territory.

"Thanks to the decision on Cairn-Vedanta deal, it has proved a big positive for ONGC," Jagannadham Thunuguntla Strategist & Head of Research, SMC Global Securities said.

ONGC was to pay Rs 18,000 crore in royalty on behalf of Cairn India over the life of the Rajasthan field and another Rs 13,000 crore in cess. Now, this will be shared by Cairn or its successor.

Cairn India will have to withdraw the arbitration it has initiated disputing its liability to pay Rs 2,500 per tonne oil cess on its 70% share in the fields.

"The government's oil subsidy sharing policy may determine the future course of ONGC performance," Thunuguntla said.

Reliance Industries and Coal India with M-cap of Rs 2.82 lakh crore and Rs 2.42 lakh crore, respectively, remained the top two most valued companies, according to the data available with BSE.

TCS's market capitalisation stood at Rs 2.32 lakh crore and was the fourth most valued company.

IT major Infosys was at the fifth place with a m-cap of Rs 1.68 lakh crore today, followed by ITC at Rs 1.56 lakh crore, State Bank of India (Rs 1,53,739 crore), NTPC (Rs 1,53,365 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs 1.45  lakh crore) and ICICI Bank (Rs 1.26 lakh crore).