D-Street's Top 100 Firms' Wealth Swells By Rs 148 Lakh Crore In Five Years: Bharti Airtel, BSE Key Gainers

The Indian stock market's top 100 listed companies created a wealth of Rs 148 lakh crore in the last five years. According to the 30th annual wealth creation study by domestic brokerage Motilal Oswal Financial Services, the top 100 wealth creators listed on the stock exchanges delivered a 38% CAGR over the last five years, far above the BSE Sensex's 21% CAGR.

This means India recorded its strongest equity wealth-creation phase in the study's 30-year history, with the top 100 listed companies adding over Rs 148 lakh crore in market value between 2020 and 2025. Telecom giant Bharti Airtel topped the list with the biggest wealth created in five years. The report identifies the period as the start of a prolonged compounding cycle as the economy advances toward a projected $16 lakh crore.

Bharti Airtel emerged as the biggest wealth creator, adding Rs 7.9 lakh crore, closely followed by ICICI Bank at Rs 7.4 lakh crore and State Bank of India. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) delivered the fastest gains among all listed stocks, posting a 124% total return CAGR, the highest in the study.

BSE was followed by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd and Jindal Stainless with a CAGR of 95% and 90% respectively. Rs 1 crore invested equally in 2020 in the top 10 fastest wealth creators would be worth Rs 24 crore in 2025, a return CAGR of 88% compared to 24% for the Nifty total return index.

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) outperformed the equity market in each of the five years, making it the most consistent and best all-round wealth creator. HAL has outperformed the Nifty total return index in all the last five years, and has the highest total return CAGR of 75%.

Overall, the pace of wealth creation at 38% CAGR is the highest in the last 17 study periods, also significantly higher than the BSE Sensex return CAGR of 21%. India's public-sector undertakings, particularly in defence, energy and utilities, with HAL, BEL and NTPC were among key contributors.

According to the brokerage, PSUs are definitively on the comeback trail, marking a substantial improvement in their wealth creation performance compared to the last three studies. 26 PSUs collectively accounted for a 25% of the total wealth created between 2020 and 2025. The comeback was driven by several factors, including profitability and valuations.

Around seven of the 26 PSUs clocked a profit turnaround, with six of these being in the banking and finance sector, causing the aggregate sectoral net profit to surge about 274 times. Even in 2020, many PSUs were trading at extremely attractive valuations, when the market crashed during COVID.