Tata Consultancy Services today became the first Indian company to command a market capitalisation of ₹5-lakh crore after its share price hit an all-time high. At the closing price of ₹2,586.9 on Wednesday, up 2.21 per cent over previous day’s closing on the Bombay Stock Exchange, TCS’ market cap stood at ₹5.06-lakh crore. Intra-day, the scrip had touched a peak of ₹2,595.
Sustained industry-leading performance and its recent liberal dividend payouts have made India’s largest IT exporter the darling of Dalal Street.
TCS’ market cap is now higher than the collective market cap of its rivals: Infosys (₹1.92-lakh crore), Wipro (₹1.4-lakh crore), HCL Technologies (₹1.08-lakh crore) and Tech Mahindra (₹50,364 crore).
“TCS’ market cap is far less than its global competitor IBM, which is valued at nearly $200 billion (₹12-lakh crore)… We expect TCS to continue leading the industry growth with excellent execution,” said Rakesh Tarway, Vice-President and Head of Equity and Derivative Products, Motilal Oswal Securities.
For the quarter ended June 30, 2014, TCS reported a 45 per cent jump in net profit at ₹5,568 crore and a 22.9 per cent rise in revenue to ₹22,111 crore. The Tata group company has painted a rosy picture for 2014-15, indicating that its growth would be higher than industry body Nasscom’s prediction of 12-14 per cent.
Last week, TCS said it would pay dividends of ₹8,813 crore in the first quarter, including a special dividend of ₹40 a share, worth around ₹7,800 crore.