Maruti Suzuki surpasses Infosys, ONGC in market-cap

Maruti Suzuki with Rs 2.23 lakh crore market-cap is currently stands ahead of ONGC and Infosys

Maruti Suzuki India has surpassed information technology (IT) major Infosys and state-owned oil exploration & production company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in overall market capitalization (market-cap) ranking after a sharp rally in automobiles giant share price.

With the market-cap of Rs 223,042 crore, Maruti Suzuki India, currently stands ahead of ONGC (Rs 216,176 crore) and Infosys (Rs 215,912 crore) at 12:14 am, the BSE data shows.

Maruti Suzuki India hit a new high of Rs 7,389 on BSE on Friday, gaining 10% since May 15, 2017 after the company reported a good set of numbers for the quarter ended March 2017 (Q4FY17).

Infosys was trading 1.7% lower at Rs 923, after hitting one-month of Rs 923 in intra-day trade after reports of its founders, led by N R Narayana Murthy, planning to sell their stake in the company that they founded emerged.

“This speculation has already been categorically denied by the promoters. The company further reiterates that it has no information on any such development. We would like to appeal to the media not to fuel such speculative stories as they are likely to harm the interests of the company and all its stakeholders”, Infosys said in a statement.

Meanwhile, thus far in the calendar year 2017, Maruti Suzuki gained 39%, against 11% decline in ONGC and 9% fall in Infosys. On comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 17% during the period.

Analysts at HDFC Securities too remained positive on the Maruti Suzuki growth story on the back of strong volume growth, led by consistent volume uptick of Ciaz, Brezza and Baleno, and success of Ignis. Increasing average selling price (ASP), led by an expanding portfolio in the premium segment; fresh capacity addition from the Gujarat facility, uptick in rural demand and supporting macro tailwinds like 7th Pay Commission payout, falling interest rates, urbanisation and growing middle class are other positives for the company.

Maruti Suzuki’s domestic sales rose 15.5% year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in May, following 23% growth in April. 

“Double-digit growth in FY18 seems well in sight. Following a 10% growth in FY17, management has guided to similar growth in FY18 and FY19, which we think is very achievable,” according to analyst at JP Morgan.

Models in the compact category including the Baleno and Ignis sold well, and sales were unusually strong in the utility category owing to launching of the Vitara Brezza compact SUV. Inventory levels at dealers still look insufficient, and we think that powerful sales (shipment) momentum will continue owing to the need to build up inventory, principally of new models, added report.

	Price	M-cap	LTP	M-cap
Company	Rs	Rs crore	Rs	Rs crore	% chg
TCS	2521.5	496,843	2519.5	496,311	-0.1
Reliance Industries	1329.9	432,408	1340.3	435,790	0.8
HDFC Bank	1645.5	422,699	1653.6	424,780	0.5
ITC	311.6	378,512	305.8	371,527	-1.9
HDFC	1634.1	259,711	1631.8	259,354	-0.1
HUL	1093.4	236,662	1092.6	236,489	-0.1
SBI	288.8	234,213	287.9	233,361	-0.3
Maruti Suzuki India	7233.8	218,517	7384.0	223,042	2.1
ONGC	170.4	218,678	168.5	216,176	-1.1
Infosys	956.3	219,657	940.0	215,912	-1.7
LTP : Last traded price in Rs at 12:14 pm