Axis Bank’s Burgundy Private and Hurun India launch the list of 500 most valuable private companies in India

December 09, 2021

Despite the Covid-19 Pandemic, the cumulative value of the 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies grew by 68% YOY to an average of ₹45,300 Cr. 461 companies saw their value increase, of which 200 of them doubled in value. 20 companies rose by ₹1 Lakhs Cr, led by Reliance Industries, TATA Consultancy Services, Infosys, and ICICI Bank
Big 3: With a value of ₹16.7 Lakhs Cr, Reliance Industries is India’s most valuable company, followed by Tata Consultancy Services with ₹13.1 Lakhs Cr and HDFC Bank with ₹9.1 Lakhs Cr
Covid-19 vaccine producer Serum Institute of India increased its value by 127% to ₹1.8 Lakhs Cr and is India’s most valuable unlisted company
Value creation at historic highs: total value of 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies is ₹228 Lakhs Cr (US$3tn), more than India’s GDP in 2021 at current prices
The companies on this list came from 43 cities across India, led by Mumbai (167), Bengaluru (52) and Chennai (38). These 3 cities contribute to more than half of the 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 list
Financial services and healthcare led the way with 77 and 64 companies respectively, followed by chemicals with 42 entrants
Total sales of the 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies cumulated to ₹58 Lakhs Cr, equivalent to 26% of India’s GDP
The 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies employ 69 Lakhs people in total, with an average of 13,800 employees
The 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 list of companies contributed ₹1.9 Lakhs Cr, nearly 62% of the corporate income tax collection in FY 2021
The average age of companies in this list is 39 years, i.e., founded in 1982
52 companies are younger than 10 years, led by Mensa Brands - the youngest company to feature on the list, founded just 6 months ago
21 companies are older than 100 years, led by Forbes & Company founded in 1767
The 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies collectively spent ₹7.0 Lakhs Cr last year on employee benefits
Women constitute 16% of boards of the 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun 500 companies
Driven by the rise in retail trade, India’s no.1 stock exchange, National Stock Exchange, saw its value grow by 42% to ₹1,68,200 Cr. 80% of derivative trading orders are made through NSE
44% of 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies are run by professional CEOs
44% of the companies on this list sell services, 56% sell physical products
71% of the companies are consumer-facing, 29% are B2B
53 companies are also featured in the Hurun global unicorn list 2021, led by BYJU's, InMobi, and OYO

Burgundy Private, Axis Bank’s Private Banking Business and Hurun India launched the first edition of the ‘2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500’, a list of the 500 most valuable companies in India. These companies are ranked according to their value, defined as market capitalization for listed companies and valuations for non-listed companies. The cut-off date to arrive at this list was 30th October 2021. This list refers to companies headquartered in India only; state-owned companies and subsidiaries of foreign companies are not included.

To make it to the ‘2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500’ list, companies require to have a minimum value of ₹5,600 Cr, equivalent to US$ 750 million. On an average, companies from this list were founded in 1982 and are worth a total of ₹228 Lakhs Cr (US$3tn) today, up by 68% YoY. Surprisingly, there has been no slowdown in a year dominated by Covid-19. Both the BSE SENSEX and NIFTY 50 rose by more than 50% YOY, whilst the S&P BSE 500 was up 69% over the same period last year.

Amitabh Chaudhry, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Axis Bank said: “Burgundy Private is delighted to partner with Hurun India in celebrating India’s 500 most valuable companies. We salute the leadership of these companies who have ably steered their businesses through the ravages of the pandemic, adopting new ways of serving their customers and emerging as winners. As India’s leading wealth management franchise, Burgundy Private has witnessed this value creation from close quarters. The total value of the 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 companies is close to ₹228 Lakhs Cr (US$3tn), which is higher than India’s GDP for FY21. The top line of these 500 companies is equivalent to 29% of India’s GDP and they employ up to 1.5% of the total workforce of the country. What is most heartening is that nearly 10% of these companies are younger than 10 years, representing India’s vibrant tech ecosystem. We believe that India’s new economy companies will witness greater representation in this list in the times to come. Axis Bank has been a partner to many names that find a mention in this report, and through our integrated ‘One Axis’ approach, we look forward to working closely with them as they achieve greater milestones in their journey ahead.”

Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and Chief Researcher, Hurun India said: “It is easy to see why Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 represents the most powerful group of companies in India. With a total value of US$3tn, which is more than India’s current GDP, they make up the backbone of India’s economy. Together, these 500 companies had combined sales of US$770bn, and employed 6.9 million staff, which is more than the working population of United Arab Emirates. Hurun India is delighted to partner with Burgundy Private, Axis Bank’s Private Banking Business to release the 2021Burgundy Private Hurun India 500.”

“India’s most valuable companies keep getting more valuable, with the total value of the 10 most valuable companies rising five times in the last decade. Value is perhaps the best way to measure a company’s performance, since value takes into account not just the current performance of a company but also its future potential. Curiously, many of the India’s most valuable companies had surprisingly low sales. For example, credit card management platform CRED, whose sales were only ₹108 Cr in FY 21, was worth ₹30,000 Cr. Some companies have high sales, while their market value is relatively small.”

Methodology: The 2021 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 is a list of the 500 most valuable companies that are headquartered in India. Government/ State-owned companies and subsidiaries of foreign companies are excluded. Although the cut-off date for the list is 30th October 2021, we have taken an exception for Paytm, Nykaa, Policybazaar, Sapphire Foods India, Latent View Analytics and Go Fashion for which we have considered the closing market cap of the listing day. The aforementioned companies were in the process of going public/ getting listed during the cut-off date.

Valuing private companies is as much an art as it is a science. Surely, Hurun India may have missed some companies, but our endeavor is to develop the most comprehensive report of its kind with an objective to identify and acknowledge India’s top businesses. Hurun Report’s team of researchers have traveled the length and breadth of the country, cross-checking information with entrepreneurs, industry experts, journalists, bankers and other sources of publicly available data.

For unlisted companies, Hurun Research’s valuation is based on a comparison with their listed equivalents using prevailing industry multiples such as Price to Earnings, Price to Sales, EV to sales, EV to EBITDA. Other methodologies such as Discounted Cash Flow and Tobin’s Q are also used. In certain cases of earlystage companies, Hurun used the First Chicago Method for valuation. Financial information used is from the latest available annual reports or audited financial statements.

To view the detailed 2021 ‘Burgundy Private Hurun India 500’ report, please click here.