Pole Position: Reliance becomes most valuable firm

Reliance was briefly knocked off its four-year long perch as the country’s most-valuable company in August.

NEW DELHI: Top software exporter Tata Consultancy Services surpassed Reliance Industries on the last trading day of the year to become the country’s most-valuable firm, capping a gloomy year for shareholders of the energy major controlled by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani. Reliance, for long the darling of Indian investors, was briefly knocked off its four-year long perch as the country’s most-valuable company in August – first by state-run Coal India and then by Oil & Natural Gas Corp – before regaining it. TCS, part of the salt-to-software Tata conglomerate, is the first private-sector company to overtake Reliance in market value. Shares in Reliance, which owns the world’s largest refinery complex, fell 2.7% on Friday to their lowest level since March 2009. The stock lost 34.5% in 2011, underperforming a 24.6% fall in the benchmark index. At Friday’s close, Reliance was valued at about $42.7 billion, while TCS commanded a market value of $42.8 billion, despite its shares closing 0.4% lower.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2012.