Twelve new companies have entered the $1-billion market capitalisation club as the Sensex rallied from 7000 to 9000 points.

The number of companies with $1 billion-plus market capitalisation has now increased to 87 from 76 in June 2005, when the Sensex touched the 7000 mark.

Suzlon Energy [Get Quote], IDFC [Get Quote], Asian Paints [Get Quote], Tata Tea [Get Quote], Tata Chemicals [Get Quote], Dabur [Get Quote], HMT, Financial technologies, Jaiprakash Associates [Get Quote], UltraTec Cement, Petronet LNG [Get Quote] and Indian Hotels are the new entrants.

As the Sensex rallied from 5000 points to 6000 points, the number of $1 billion market capitalisation companies rose from 47 in November 2003 to 58. In 2004, as the Sensex crossed 6000, the number rose further to 76.

At present, nine companies have market capitalisation over $10 billion against eight in June, 2005 and just four in January, 2004. The four companies were Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Reliance Industries [Get Quote], Indian Oil Corporation [Get Quote] (IOC) and Hindustan Lever [Get Quote].

The club's membership is based on the rupee-dollar exchange rate of the same date when the Sensex reached each landmark. Today's market capitalisation was calculated on an exchange rate of Rs 45.81 per dollar.

The newly listed Suzlon Energy tops the new entrant list with a m-cap of $4.67 billion (Rs 21,403 crore), followed by IDFC $1.83 billion (Rs 8,372 crore), Jaiprakash Associates $1.31 billion (Rs 5,985 crore), UltraTech Cement [Get Quote] $1.25 billion (Rs 5,727 crore) and Financial Technologies $1.18 billion (Rs 5,409 crore).

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has been on the top of the list since 2002 with a m-cap of $32.55 billion (Rs 1,49,124 crore). In last two years, the total m-cap increased by 72 per cent from $ 19.2 billion (Rs 86,939 crore) in November 2003.

Reliance Industries is at number two with a m-cap of $25.78 billion (Rs 1,18,114 crore), followed by NTPC $19.28 billion (Rs 88,309 crore), Infosys Technologies $16.36 billion (Rs 74,941 crore), TCS $16.22 billion (Rs 74,288 crore), and Bharti Tele-Ventures $15.29 billion (Rs 70,059 crore).