Recent weeks see market cap of IT companies being wiped out
Mumbai: In a significant development, the combined market cap of the 172 software companies listed on the BSE has fallen below what Wipro alone used to command in February, 2000!

Software companies have in all lost more than Rs 3,00,000 crore worth of market cap since February, a majority of them being from the B group. As many as 30 infotech stocks are said to have seen their share prices plunge by 80 per cent or more from their February 2000 levels.

These losers include such high-priced shares like S Kumars.com, India’s only listed dotcom on the BSE, which has lost 91 per cent - falling from Rs 475 in February to just Rs 38 on August 4, 2000. Following closely are shares like Vans Information and Computech International, which have lost 90 per cent each.

What is inexplicable is the fact that most software companies have turned in excellent first quarter results with their profits growing between 60 and 100 per cent over the last quarter. Companies like Pentamedia and Silverline have seen their net profits go up by 92 and 77 per cent respectively, while their share prices dropped between 80 and 72 per cent respectively.

On the whole, the combined market cap of all the infotech companies has dipped to around Rs 1,90,000 crore, close to the levels of Rs 1,79,348 crore when the Sensex touched its year's low in May.
Back to News Review index page