December 09, 2021
- Despite the Covid-19 Pandemic, the cumulative value of the 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies grew by 68% YOY to an average of INR 45,300 crore. 461 companies saw their value increase, of which 200 of them doubled in value. 20
companies rose by INR 1 lakh crore, led by Reliance Industries, TATA Consultancy Services, Infosys, and ICICI Bank
- Big 3: With a value of INR 16.7 lakh crore, Reliance Industries is India’s most valuable company, followed by Tata Consultancy Services with INR 13.1 lakh crore and HDFC Bank with INR 9.1 lakh crore
- Covid-19 vaccine producer Serum Institute of India increased its value by 127% to INR 1.8 lakh crore and is India’s most valuable unlisted company
- Value creation at historic highs: total value of 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies is INR 228 lakh crore (US$3tn), more than India’s GDP in 2021 at current prices
- The companies on this list came from 43 cities across India, led by Mumbai (167), Bengaluru (52) and Chennai (38). These 3 cities contribute to more than half of the 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 list
- Financial services and healthcare led the way with 77 and 64 companies respectively, followed by chemicals with 42 entrants
- Total sales of the 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies cumulated to INR 58 lakh crore, equivalent to 26% of India’s GDP
- The 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies employ 69 lakh people in total, with an average of 13,800 employees
- The 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 list of companies contributed INR 1.9 lakh crore, nearly 62% of the corporate income tax collection in FY 2021
- The average age of companies in this list is 39 years, i.e., founded in 1982
- 52 companies are younger than 10 years, led by Mensa Brands - the youngest company to feature on the list, founded just 6 months ago
- 21 companies are older than 100 years, led by Forbes & Company founded in 1767
- The 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies collectively spent INR 7.0 lakh crore last year on employee benefits
- Women constitute 16% of boards of the 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun 500 companies
- Driven by the rise in retail trade, India’s no.1 stock exchange, National Stock Exchange, saw its value grow by 42% to INR 1,68,200 crore. 80% of derivative trading orders are made through NSE
- 44% of 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies are run by professional CEOs
- 44% of the companies on this list sell services, 56% sell physical products
- 71% of the companies are consumer-facing, 29% are B2B
- 53 companies are also featured in the Hurun global unicorn list 2021, led by BYJU's, InMobi, and OYO
Burgundy Private, Axis Bank’s Private Banking Business and Hurun India launched the first edition of the ‘2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500’, a list of the 500 most
valuable companies in India. These companies are ranked according to their value, defined as market capitalization for listed companies and valuations for non-listed companies. The cut-off date to arrive at this list was 30th October 2021.
This list refers to companies headquartered in India only; state-owned companies and subsidiaries of foreign companies are not included.
To make it to the ‘2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500’ list, companies require to have a minimum value of INR 5,600 crore, equivalent to US$ 750 million. On an average, companies from this list were founded in 1982 and are worth
a total of INR 228 lakh crore (US$3tn) today, up by 68% YoY. Surprisingly, there has been no slowdown in a year dominated by Covid-19. Both the BSE SENSEX and NIFTY 50 rose by more than 50% YOY, whilst the S&P BSE 500 was up 69% over the
same period last year.
Amitabh Chaudhry, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Axis Bank said: “Burgundy Private is delighted to partner with Hurun India in celebrating India’s 500 most valuable companies. We salute the leadership
of these companies who have ably steered their businesses through the ravages of the pandemic, adopting new ways of serving their customers and emerging as winners. As India’s leading wealth management franchise, Burgundy Private has
witnessed this value creation from close quarters. The total value of the 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies is close to INR 228 lakh crore (US$3tn), which is higher than India’s GDP for FY21. The top line of these 500 companies
is equivalent to 29% of India’s GDP and they employ up to 1.5% of the total workforce of the country. What is most heartening is that nearly 10% of these companies are younger than 10 years, representing India’s vibrant tech ecosystem.
We believe that India’s new economy companies will witness greater representation in this list in the times to come. Axis Bank has been a partner to many names that find a mention in this report, and through our integrated ‘One
Axis’ approach, we look forward to working closely with them as they achieve greater milestones in their journey ahead.”
Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India said:
“It is easy to see why Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 represents the most powerful group of companies in India. With a total value of US$3tn, which is
more than India’s current GDP, they make up the backbone of India’s economy. Together, these 500 companies had combined sales of US$770bn, and employed 6.9 million staff, which is more than the working population of United Arab
Emirates. Hurun India is delighted to partner with Burgundy Private, Axis Bank’s Private Banking Business to release the 2021Burgundy Private Hurun India 500.”
“India’s most valuable companies keep getting more valuable, with the total value of the 10 most valuable companies rising five times in the last decade. Value is perhaps the best way to measure a company’s performance, since
value takes into account not just the current performance of a company but also its future potential. Curiously, many of the India’s most valuable companies had surprisingly low sales. For example, credit card management platform CRED,
whose sales were only INR 108 crore in FY 21, was worth INR 30,000 crore. Some companies have high sales, while their market value is relatively small.”
Methodology:
The 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 is a list of the 500 most valuable companies that are headquartered in India. Government/ State-owned companies and subsidiaries of foreign companies are excluded. Although the cut-off date for the list
is 30th October 2021, we have taken an exception for Paytm, Nykaa, Policybazaar, Sapphire Foods India, Latent View Analytics and Go Fashion for which we have considered the closing market cap of the listing day. The aforementioned companies
were in the process of going public/ getting listed during the cut-off date.
Valuing private companies is as much an art as it is a science. Surely, Hurun India may have missed some companies, but our endeavor is to develop the most comprehensive report of its kind with an objective to identify and acknowledge India’s
top businesses. Hurun Report’s team of researchers have traveled the length and breadth of the country, cross-checking information with entrepreneurs, industry experts, journalists, bankers and other sources of publicly available data.
For unlisted companies, Hurun Research’s valuation is based on a comparison with their listed equivalents using prevailing industry multiples such as Price to Earnings, Price to Sales, EV to sales, EV to EBITDA. Other methodologies such
as Discounted Cash Flow and Tobin’s Q are also used. In certain cases of earlystage companies, Hurun used the First Chicago Method for valuation. Financial information used is from the latest available annual reports or audited financial
statements.
To view the detailed 2021 ‘Burgundy Private Hurun India 500’ report, please click here.
