Top 10 most-valued firms: ATL, Bajaj Finance in & LIC out

Insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corp. (LIC) of India has been ousted from the top 10 most valued companies’ chart by Gautam Adani-led Adani Transmission Ltd. (ATL) and Bajaj Finance Ltd., on the back of consistent rise in their share prices.

The LIC share closed 0.65% up at ₹674.5 today, taking its market cap to ₹4,26,020.22 crore.

LIC had lost over ₹46,000 crore in market value alone after falling 8% on Day 1 of trading as it made a tepid start on Dalal Street on May 17, 2022. The m-cap also dropped to ₹5.54 crore against around ₹6 lakh crore at the issue price.

Since then, the LIC stock has fallen consistently, shedding about 30% of its value from the issue price of ₹949. This has led to an erosion of around ₹1.74 lakh crore of its value.

At the same time, the companies that have dethroned LIC -- Bajaj Finance and Adani Transmission -- have seen consistent rise in market value.

The Adani Transmission stock rose 3.2% to ₹3,979 crore today, taking its m-cap to ₹4,43,034.65 crore. The Bajaj Finance stock also rose 4.99% today to ₹7,312, taking its current m-cap to ₹4,42,193.40 crore.

So now, LIC has been pushed to the 11th place, with India's biggest conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd. topping the chart with m-cap worth ₹17,85,412.57 crore.

The list is followed by Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (₹11,75,140.94 crore), HDFC Bank Ltd (₹8,26,633.55), Infosys Ltd (₹6,28,296.46 crore), Hindustan Unilever Ltd (₹6,24,756.32 crore), ICICI Bank (₹6,18,012.83 crore), State Bank of India (₹4,74,030.75 crore), and HDFC (₹4,43,789.54 crore).

Despite a fall in market value, LIC still remains India's largest life insurer, with market share of 68.57% until July 2022.

After its listing in May, LIC reported better financials in the April-June quarter. The state-owned company reported multifold year-on-year growth in profit for Q1 FY23, while it declined marginally on a sequential basis.

LIC's quarterly profit surged to ₹682.89 crore, compared to ₹2.94 crore in the Covid-disrupted last year’s June quarter. The total income stood at ₹1,68,881 crore in Q1 FY22, versus ₹1,54,153 crore in the year-ago period. For the quarter ended June 2022, LIC registered an increase of 20.35% in the total premium income at ₹98,352 crore.

The shares of Adani Transmission Ltd, meanwhile, have surged 13.10% in the past five days; 21.99% in the past month; 77.55% in the past six months; and 129.85% in the year-to-date period.

The Bajaj Finance stock has also surged 1.61% in the past five days; 0.70% in the past month; 7.03% in the past six months; and 1.28% in the year-to-date period.