The total market capital of these business houses was Rs 3,84,839 crore in February 16, 2001, compared with Rs 5,01,643 crore in March 31, 2000.

While Reliance topped the list with market capital of Rs 78,636 crore in February 16, 2001, Castrol came last with Rs 3,466 crore. Of the remaining business houses, eight - Wipro, Hind Lever, Infosys, HCL, ITC, Tata, Birla KM and Satyam Computers - had market capital exceeding Rs 10,000 crore.

Market capital reveals the rating of industrial houses. Here, 20 industrial houses have been selected from a list of 120 industrial houses based on their market capital as on February, 16, 2001. Their corresponding market capital are based on those of March 31, 2000. The share prices have been computed from the official price lists published by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The maximum positive change (in market capital) on a year was shown by the Nestle (40.7 per cent) followed by Reliance (21.6 per cent), Tata (16.23 per cent), ITC (11.9 per cent), Birla KM (11.2 per cent) and HCL (10.4 per cent). On the other hand, significant declines in market capital was witnessed in the case of Zee Group (-76.6 per cent) followed by Satyam Computers (-58.8 per cent), Wipro (-48.5 per cent), Himachal Futuristic (-46.3 per cent), Infosys Technologies (-29.7 per cent), Dr Reddy's (-16.2 per cent) and the Bajaj Group (-14.6 per cent).

The market capital of Reliance and Wipro exceeded 12 per cent each of the total of the top 20 in all the two time points. Hindustan Lever accounted for around 11 per cent. Infosys, HCL, Tata, ITC, Birla KM, Satyam Computer, Zee Tele and the Raunaq group accounted for around two per cent but less than 12 per cent. The other business houses had a share of less than two per cent but more than 0.7 per cent each in the total market capital.

The Reliance group has three major companies - Reliance Industries, Reliance Indus Infra and Reliance Petro. Of them, the maximum increase (34.7 per cent) in market capital was witnessed in the case of Reliance Industries on February 16, 2001.

Of the six major companies in the Birla KM group - Bihar Caustic & Chemicals, Grasim Industries, Hindalco, Indian Rayon, Indo Gulf Fertilisers and Mangalam Timber Products - the maximum change in market capitalisation was shown by Indo Gulf (25.6 per cent) on February 16, 2001.

Of the two major companies in the Zee Group, Zee Telefilms and Essel Packaging, the maximum declines in market capitalisation was seen in the case of Zee Telefilms (-77.2 per cent) on February 16, 2001.

Of the five major companies in the Bajaj group - Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Electricals, Bajaj Hindustan, Bajaj Tempo and Maharashtra Scooters - the maximum declines in market capital was seen in the case of Maharashtra Scooters (-42.2 per cent) on February 16, 2001.