TCS crosses $100-billion market value

MUMBAI: Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) became the first Indian company in a decade to breach the $100-billion market value barrier after stocks in the IT giant soared yesterday.

Shares i n India’s l argest software exporter rose more than 4% following positive earnings results to hit a high of 3,557 rupees ($53.53) on the Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex index.

The surge propelled the firm’s market capitalisation value to 681 trillion rupees, above $100 billion, as TCS became just the second Indian company in history to cross the symbolic mark.

Reliance Industries Limited, the energy-to-telecoms conglomerate owned by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, was the first Indian group to breach the $100-billion marker, back in 2008.

“It is an important milestone, which not only gives us something to cheer but also changes t he perspective and sentiment toward other Indian software makers,” Gaurang Shah, head investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services Ltd in Mumbai, told Bloomberg News.

The shares were spurred by a TCS earnings report released last Thursday which showed that the technology company had enjoyed a 4.4% rise in consolidated net profit year-on-year for the quarter ending March.

TCS recorded net profit of 69.04 billion rupees, beating many analysts’ expectations. The IT services exporter has also been boosted by a weakening rupee.