Stock Market - 5 Companies That Recorded The Biggest Jumps And The Steepest Drops

India’s stock market has been on a tear over the past year, but the rising tide did not lift all companies. Here are the top gainers and losers on the BT500 list

- Rahul Oberoi

INDIA INC. and, indeed, the economy in general weathered the second wave of the pandemic much better than the first. This is reflected in the superlative returns on the domestic equity market in the 12 months ended September 30, 2021. While the benchmark BSE Sensex jumped 55 per cent during this period, the broader BSE MidCap and BSE SmallCap indices soared 72 per cent and 89 per cent, respectively.

The market sentiment, market watchers say, was boosted by hopes of a faster return to business normalcy, sustained foreign institutional investor inflows, better-than-expected financial results, the central bank’s liquidity measures such as maintaining low-interest rates, as well as a series of government reforms such as the ₹100-lakh crore ‘Gati Shakti’ infrastructure spending plan.

As a result, more than 91 per cent of the stocks on the BSE have risen in the 12 months to September. Of them, nearly 1,050 more than doubled in value. That resulted in 19 firms rising by more than 100 slots in the Business Today 500 rankings, which is based on the increase or decrease in a company’s average daily market capitalisation between the 12 months ended September 2020 and the 12 months ended September 2021. The 19 include Punjab & Sind Bank, Alkyl Amines Chemicals, Laurus Labs, Mastek, Hindustan Foods and Adani Total Gas.

But there were some notable decliners as well. Overall, more than 250 companies slid down the BT500 ranks. Some tumbled by as many as 100 places, including Godfrey Phillips, Gulf Oil Lubricants, Mishra Dhatu Nigam, Sterling and Wilson Solar, Ircon International and INOX Leisure.

But they weren’t the worst performers. Here are the five companies that recorded the biggest jumps and the steepest drops in the BT500 list.