TCS may hit $ 100b in valuation next week

■ Would become the first Indian firm to hit the mark

New Delhi, April 20: TCS moved closer to the $ 100 billion mark in market capitalisation as its share price surged nearly 7 per cent on Friday, adding about $ 6.2 billion to its valuation.

The IT major is set to be the first listed Indian company to achieve this milestone.

Led by the smart rally in the stock, the company’s market cap moved up by ` 41,300.92 crore to ` 6,52,082.92 crore ($ 98.8 billion).

This is short of mark.

TCS market valuation had in January 24 this year surged past the ` 6 lakh crore mark.

The stock jumped 6.76 per cent to settle at ` 3,406.40 on BSE on Friday. During the day, it soared 7.22 per cent to its 52- week high of ` 3,421.25.

On NSE, shares of the company rose sharply by 6.62 per cent to close at ` 3,402.45.

The stock was biggest gainer on Sensex and Nifty.

In terms of equity volume, 7.72 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over 92 lakh shares changed hands on NSE during the day.

TCS is the leading the chart as the most valued firm followed by RIL (` 5,87,929.90 crore), HDFC Bank (` 5,08,884.23 crore), ITC (` 3,36,777.52 crore) and HUL (` 3,17,211.69 crore) in the top- five list.

“TCS reported betterthanexpected quarterly numbers,” Emkay Global Financial Services said ` 7,917.08 crore the $ 100 billion the both in a report.

Buying was also seen in other IT counters, with Tech Mahindra rising 5.34 per cent, HCL Technologies 4.67 per cent, Infosys 4.02 per cent and Wipro 2.31 per cent on BSE.

Led by the sharp gains in these stocks, the BSE IT index gained 4.80 per cent to end at 13,335.13.

Stating that fiscal 2017- 18 has been a “sobering year” on slower revenue growth, TCS on Thursday reported a 4.4 per cent rise in March quarter net profit at ` 6,904 crore.

The Tata group flagship, which contributes around 85 per cent of the group’s profit, reported a revenue growth of 8.2 per cent at ` 32,075 crore for the three months to March. In dollar terms, the company had its highest revenue growth in 14 quarters at 11.7 per cent. It also announced a 1: 1 bonus of shares and a dividend of ` 29 a share, taking the total payout to shareholders at ` 50 for the year. It has given out close to ` 26,000 crore to the shareholders in dividends and bonuses in the year.