India is entering a period of economic growth that is expected to extend far beyond the usual business cycle. According to the 30th Annual Wealth Creation Study released by Motilal Oswal Financial Services, the country is on course for a long expansion supported by rising incomes, deeper capital markets, and growing household participation in equities. What are the key stocks that Motilal Oswal Financial Services has identified going forward? Here is a detailed analysis of the fastest wealth creators in the last 5 years and a list of stocks that have delivered the most consistent returns.
Motilal Oswal study: Strong balance sheet key to consistent gains
The study describes the period from 2020 to 2025 as an early look at this longer journey. During these five years, Indian listed companies created wealth worth about Rs 148 lakh crore, the highest recorded in the three-decade history of the study. This translated into a wealth creation growth rate of about 38% per year.
Motilal Oswal attributes this outcome to a rapid recovery after the pandemic, stronger corporate balance sheets, and a sharp rise in equity ownership among households. Together, these factors pushed stock prices well ahead of economic growth.
Motilal Oswal study: Fastest wealth creators between 2000-2025
Within this broader surge, Motilal Oswal Financial Services identified a small group of companies as the fastest wealth creators between 2020 and 2025. According to the study, this group delivered an average return of about 88% per year.
Motilal Oswal explains that an equal investment of Rs 1 crore in 2020 across these stocks would have grown to about Rs 24 crore by 2025. Over the same period, the Nifty Total Return Index delivered a return of about 24% per year.
At the top of the list was BSE, which recorded a 124% compound annual growth rate over the five-year period. Motilal Oswal notes that BSE’s profit after tax expanded at a 65% CAGR, while valuation climbed sharply, with the price to earnings multiple rising from 12 times in 2020 to 53 times in 2025. Market capitalisation increased from about Rs 1,300 crore to Rs 74,200 crore, supported by higher retail participation, growth in demat accounts, and strong IPO activity.
Rail Vikas Nigam followed with a 95% CAGR over the same period. The study shows that profit growth was modest, with profit after tax rising at an 11% CAGR, while valuation expansion played the larger role. The price-to-earnings (PE) multiple rose from 4 times to 57 times, aided by sustained railway spending.
Jindal Stainless delivered a 90% CAGR through a different path. Motilal Oswal reports that profit after tax grew at a 105% CAGR, the highest among the fastest wealth creators, while valuation remained broadly stable. The study notes that wealth creation in this case was driven largely by earnings growth rather than re-rating.
Other strong performers included Persistent Systems, which delivered an 83% CAGR, and Dixon Technologies, which delivered a 79% CAGR, supported by demand in technology services and electronics manufacturing. Turnaround cases also featured prominently. GE Vernova T&D India and Adani Power moved from loss to profit during the period and recorded 85% CAGR and 79% CAGR, respectively.
Consistency remained rare
Motilal Oswal points out that consistency was far harder to achieve than speed. Only 13 of the top 100 wealth creators managed to beat the Nifty Total Return Index in every year between 2020 and 2025.
Hindustan Aeronautics emerged as the most consistent wealth creator, delivering a return of 75% per year and outperforming the index in all five years. The company also ranked first among all-around wealth creators when size, speed, and consistency were combined. Bharat Electronics and Adani Power followed in the all-round rankings.
On an absolute basis, Bharti Airtel was the biggest wealth creator of the five-year period, creating about Rs 7.9 lakh crore in wealth, followed by ICICI Bank and State Bank of India.
What changes in 2026
Looking ahead, Motilal Oswal projects India’s GDP at about Rs 360 lakh crore in 2026, up from around Rs 330 lakh crore in 2025. The study states that rising equity wealth is beginning to feed directly into consumption.
Motilal Oswal estimates that this wealth effect could add about 0.4% to GDP growth in FY26, translating into additional spending of about Rs 1.35 lakh crore. This spending is expected to support demand in housing, vehicles, healthcare, and discretionary goods.
The study also states that while mid- and small-cap stocks led the previous period, large-cap companies are likely to play a larger role as earnings improve and valuations in smaller stocks remain elevated.
Motilal Oswala’s big bets: Positioning for the long road to 2042
To prepare for growth up to Rs 1,320 lakh crore GDP by 2042, Motilal Oswal has set out what it calls the India MTD Portfolio, a basket of 30 market-leading companies selected for long-term compounding.
The study states that these stocks were chosen using the QGLP framework, which focuses on quality of business, earnings growth, durability of the franchise, and reasonable price. The emphasis is on companies with return on equity above 12%, earnings growth above 20%, and valuations that still allow compounding.
Financial services and capital market companies account for about 40% of the portfolio, reflecting the rising flow of household savings into financial assets. Key holdings include ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, BSE, HDFC AMC, and Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Automobiles and consumer-facing businesses account for about 20%, led by Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra, Eicher Motors, Hero MotoCorp, and Blue Star, as rising incomes support higher-value purchases.
Capital goods and engineering companies such as Larsen and Toubro and Waaree Energies represent the production side of growth, while healthcare and real estate holdings include Global Health, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Godrej Properties, and Lodha.
Bharti Airtel remains part of the portfolio as the biggest wealth creator of the recent cycle, while InterGlobe Aviation features as a turnaround case after moving from loss to profit.
Motilal Oswal does not provide short-term price targets. The study stays focused on long-term compounding as India moves through the next stage of economic expansion. The brokerage house stated that India’s economy has already expanded four times over the past 17 years to about Rs 330 lakh crore, or roughly USD $4 trillion. The study projects that GDP could rise fourfold again to about Rs 1,320 lakh crore, equivalent to $USD 16 trillion, by 2042.