The market capitalisation on the Bombay Stock Exchange increased Rs 3,50,000 crore (Rs 3,500 billion) in the first half of the current fiscal, beating the previous highest m-cap gain of Rs 2,61,000 crore (Rs 2,610 billion) during the six months ended March 2000 based on the boom in information, communication and entertainment stocks.

The aggregate BSE market cap increased 64 per cent in the first half of FY04 to Rs 9,01,858 crore (Rs 9,018.58 billion) on September 30, 2003, from Rs 5,50,107 crore (Rs 5,501.07 billion) on March 31, 2003.

Except for diamond and jewellery, all the other 110 sectors recorded an increase in market value, ranging between 25 per cent and 374 per cent.

Mining tops the list of gainers with an appreciation of 374 per cent in value, followed by the non-ferrous metals which gained 298 per cent, textiles (ready made) was up 213 per cent and steel up 203 per cent in market capitalisation.

The BSE PSU index outperformed all other indices in the six months, almost doubling from 1583.33 on March 31 to 2945.65 at the end of September.

During the same period, the benchmark Sensex increased 46 per cent (nearly 1405 points) and S&P CNX Nifty increased 45 per cent (439 points).

Public sector undertakings led the charge with a huge 86 per cent rise (Rs 1,39,650 crore) in market capitalisation.

The market cap of 51 PSU stocks, including nationalised banks, aggregated at Rs 3,02,358 crore (Rs 3,023.58 billion) compared with Rs 1,62,708 crore (Rs 1,627.08 billion) on March 31, 2003.

Incidentally, the share of market cap of PSU stocks in the total market cap increased from 29.6 per cent at the end of March 2003 to 33.5 per cent on September 30.

Among the 111 sectors tracked by the Business Standard Research Bureau, refineries tops the list of market cap gainers, with a 88.3 per cent (Rs 77,807 crore) increase in market cap to Rs 1,65,981 crore (Rs 1,659.81 billion) .

Chartbusters
	M-cap (Rs crore)			M-cap (Rs crore)			M-cap (Rs crore)
Company	Sep'03	Gain*	Sector	Sep'03	Gain*	House	Sep'03	Gain*
ONGC	87,217	36,482	Refineries	1,65,981	77,807	Reliance	72,631	28,246
Indian Oil Corp	44,116	26,031	Banks	94,244	36,690	Tata	38,637	17,758
Reliance Ind	61,999	23,396	Diversified	77,194	30,502	Bharti	14,790	9,545
SAIL	15,654	12,019	Pharma	63,468	24,655	A V Birla	17,117	7,634
SBI	23,768	9,563	Steel/alloys	28,634	19,195	Sterlite	5,421	4,077
Bharti Tele	14,790	9,545	IT	96,844	14,712	Bajaj-Mukand	8,404	3,308
Hindustan Lever	40,348	7,781	Telecom	29,471	14,513	O P Jindal	4,690	3,097
ICICI Bank	19,672	6,777	Personal care	51,537	11,598	Subhash Chandra	5,798	2,775
Ranbaxy Lab	17,889	6,306	Power	17,883	7,314	Munjal	6,535	2,598
GAIL	12,456	6,114	Aluminium	17,075	6,707	TVS Iyenger	4,069	1,970
*gain over March 31,2003

Banking was the second biggest gainer in the list with its market cap increasing 63.7 per cent (Rs 36,690 crore) to Rs 94,244 crore (Rs 942.44 billion).

Stocks traded under the diversified group appreciated 65.5 per cent to Rs 77,194 crore (Rs 771.94 billion).

Among leading business houses, the Reliance group was the biggest gainer in market cap, while Anil Agarwal's Sterlite group took the honours in terms of percentage gains.

Interestingly, the market cap of as many as 42 small and medium business groups increased over 100 per cent in the last six months.

Among the single company group (in terms stock listing on exchanges) Sunil Mittal's Bharti Tele-Ventures gained 182 per cent, Deshbandhu Gupta's Lupin Laboratories appreciated 282 per cent and Abhay Firodia's Bajaj Tempo appreciated by 334 per cent.

Quite in line with the rise in steel scrips, the market cap of the O P Jindal group increased 194 per cent to Rs 4,690 crore (Rs 46.90 billion), Essar group's market cap appreciated 221 per cent to Rs 1,267 crore (Rs 12.67 billion) and Mittal group's market cap jumped 150 per cent to Rs 920 crore (Rs 9.2 billion).

Among other business groups, Sterlite gained 303 per cent in market cap, Kirloskar gained 334 per cent, M P Birla (210 per cent), Poddar (177 per cent), Welspun (173 per cent), and Videocon (154 per cent).

Among the groups with multiple companies listed on the exchanges, Reliance tops with aggregate market capitalisation of Rs 72,631 crore (Rs 726.31 billion).

The group's market cap increased 64 per cent (Rs 28,246 crore) in the last six months.

The Tatas rank second with a market cap of Rs 38,637 crore (Rs 386.37 billion), up 85 per cent over March 31, 2003 levels. The A V Birla group is at the third place with a market cap of Rs 17,117 crore (Rs 171.17 billion), up 80.5 per cent.