India's 10 MOST valuable companies

State-run Coal India on Wednesday toppled billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries as the country's most valued company, with a slightly higher market valuation around mid-day.

At around 1200 hours on the National Stock Exchange, Coal India Ltd commanded a market cap of Rs 250,759.67 crore (Rs 2,507.596 billion), with an over 2 per cent rise in its share price.

At that time, RIL had a market cap of Rs 250,580.21 crore (Rs 2,505.802 billion) on the National Stock Exchange.

A few minutes later, CIL's market valuation exceeded that of RIL on the BSE as well. At around 1206 hrs, RIL's market cap on the BSE stood at Rs 2,50,468 crore (Rs 2,504.68 billion), slightly lower than CIL's Rs 2,50,538 crore (Rs 2,505.38 billion).

At 1206 hours on Wednesday, RIL shares were trading 0.82 per cent higher at Rs 765.20, while CIL was up 2.32 per cent at Rs 396.60.

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1. Coal India Ltd.

Coal India Ltd has been closing the gap on RIL in terms of market valuation over the past few days and on August 9, the gap slipped below 1 per cent.

RIL extended its lead by some margin since then, but the PSU coal giant managed to surpass the private sector energy giant's market capitalisation in Wednesday's trade at around 1200 hours.

In Tuesday's close, RIL had a market cap of Rs 248,504.44 crore (Rs 2,485.044 billion), as against CIL's 244,822.28 crore (Rs 2,448.222 billion), on the BSE.

At the time of Wednesday's market opening also, RIL had a higher market cap of Rs 249,454 crore (Rs 2,494.54 billion) than CIL's Rs 244,822 crore (Rs 2,448.22 billion).

Way back in 2006, RIL had toppled ONGC to emerge as the country's most valued firm and has managed to stay on the top since then.

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2. Reliance Industries Ltd

ONGC had also come very close to toppling RIL as the country's most valued firm last week, but lost ground in the past few trading sessions. The stock was trading 2.4 per cent higher at Rs 279.50, with a market cap of Rs 2,39,125 crore (Rs 2,391.25 billion), in Wednesday's trade at 1220 hours.

Marketmen would be keenly watching the three stocks to see whether RIL is able to regain its lead or loses further ground in the market-cap charts.

RIL's stock has been under acute pressure in recent past, while ONGC and CIL have managed to outperform in a weak market on several occasions in the past few days.

Currently, RIL is the country's most valued firm, followed by Coal India, ONGC, TCS, ITC, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Infosys, SBI and HDFC Bank in the top ten.

While the top-three command a market cap in excess of Rs 2 lakh crore (Rs 2 trillion), the remaining carry valuations of more than Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) each.

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3. ONGC

State-run ONGC has slipped to the third position. Oil and gas major ONGC had a market cap of Rs 2,37,415.68 crore (Rs 2,374.156 billion) on Wednesday.

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4. Tata Consultancy Services

India's largest IT company, Tata Consultancy Services, was fourth with a market capitalisation of Rs Rs 1,94,154.24 crore (Rs 1,941.542 billion).

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5. ITC Ltd

FMCG major ITC was India's 5th most valuable firm with a market capitalisation of Rs 1,56,580.45 crore (Rs 1,565.804 billion).

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6. Bharti Airtel

The country's top telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, has a market cap of Rs 1,50,384.96 crore (Rs 1,503.849 billion). It is the sixth most valuable firm in India.

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7. NTPC

Power major NTPC is the seventh most valuable company in India. It has a market capitalisation of Rs 1,43,718.37 crore (Rs 1,437.183 billion).

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8. Infosys

IT giant Infosys was eighth. The valuation of the company stood at Rs 1,38,391.40 crore (Rs 1,383.914 billion).

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9. State Bank of India

India's largest bank and public sector giant, State Bank of India, is India's ninth most valuable company, with a market capitalisation of Rs 1,38,239.50 crore (Rs 1,382.395 billion).

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10. HDFC Bank

Banking major and India's second largest private secotr bank, HDFC Bank, rounded off the top 10 most valuable companies' list with a market cap of Rs 1,06,493.58 crore (Rs 1,064.935 billion).