Nine jewels shine despite stock market volatility

Five cos deliver double-digit returns over one year

Aman Dhall NEW DELHI

THEY ARE the crash performers of Indian stock market. Even as the Indian equities market almost halved in value since touching an all-time high on January 10, 2008, there were nine stocks among India's top 500 companies which delivered gains to their shareholders over a period of one year.
    While there are three stocks each from defensive sectors, pharmaceuticals and fast moving consumer goods, which figure among the nine jewels or navratnas of Dalal Street, there are some odd ones too. A company engaged in the industrial gases business, an oil lubricant firm and a two-wheeler manufacturer were the other shining stars during the darkest hour in the Indian stock market history, reveals a research by SundayET.
    The analysis captures the performance of BSE index, BSE-500 stocks from January 10, 2008, to January 9, 2009. For starters, BSE-500 index represents nearly 93% of the total market capitalisation on BSE and covers 20 major industries of the economy.
    Overall, while five companies posted double-digit returns, there were four firms which offered single-digit returns. There is a huge difference of 48% in returns between the first and the second best performer on D-Street.
    Here's a look at dream portfolio of any investor in 2008. Cadila Healthcare, one of the five largest drug makers in India, is the winner by a long way in the top performers roll, delivering a whopping return of almost 65% to its shareholders. Hero Honda Motors is next on the list with returns of nearly 17%.
    India's leading FMCG companies, Hindustan Unilever and Godrej Consumer Products rank third and fourth, respectively, in the major gainers' line up. The stocks gave returns of 15.27% and 12. 44%, respectively, to their investors.
    BOC India, the arm of BOC Group, which is the second largest industrial gases company in the world, is fifth in the star line-up. The stock posted returns of over 12% during the above mentioned period.
    The next four slots were occupied by Castrol India (6.62%), Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals (4.04%), Sun Pharma Industries (3.50%) and Nestle India (2.18%). A total of 21 stocks figure in the hall of shame. These stocks struggled for support on the bourses. Realty big loser
THESE 21 stocks saw their valuations dropping by more than 90% during the said period. A closer look at poor performers discloses that more than half of these companies hail from the real estate sector.
    Orbit Corporation, a Mumbaibased real estate firm, and Asian Electronics, a company involved in design and manufacturing of energy conservation products, topped the worst performers' chart. Both of them witnessed a decline of nearly 95% in their valuations.
    Other real estate firms to feature in the major losers' list included Puravankara Projects (-90.14%), Sobha Developers (-90.69%), I V R Prime Urban Developers (-90.84%), Parsvnath Developers (-91.63%), Prajay Engineers Syndicate (-92.48%), Ansal Properties and Infrastructure (-92.65%), Ganesh Housing Corporation (-92.74%), Unitech (-93.06%), Lok Housing and Constructions (- 3.13%) and Jai Corporation (-4.04%).
    aman.dhall@timesgroup.com