Big conglomerates’ grip on market cap steadily loosens as new-age firms rise
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s equity market is undergoing a quiet but meaningful structural shift, where market leadership is steadily widening beyond traditional heavyweight conglomerates. While large business groups continue to dominate in absolute terms, their grip on overall market capitalization is loosening as gains spread across sectors, mid-sized firms and new-age businesses.A Mint analysis of 10 leading business groups by market capitalization shows their combined share in India’s total market value has steadily declined over the past few years—from 31.4% in FY22 to 25.3% in FY25 and further to 24% in FY26.
The share has slipped marginally to 23.94% in FY27 so far, after the West Asia war sparked a selloff, according to ACE Equity data. Their combined market capitalization currently stands at ₹107.5 trillion, compared with ₹449.1 trillion for all shares listed on the BSE as of 13 April.
However, the dilution does not imply underperformance. While the Sensex’s market capitalization rose about 7%, the top 10 conglomerates together have grown faster at around 9% so far this fiscal year that started on 1 April.Also read: FPI shift: Out of IT, into infra in FY26—what’s in store for FY27?“India is moving into a more structural broad-basing of market leadership, but not into a market where large conglomerates stop mattering.
The macro and flow backdrop is now deep enough to support wider earnings participation,” said Karthick Jonagadla, founder and CEO of Quantace Research.“But this isn’t a simple shift away from conglomerates: focused capital allocators are gaining faster in this environment. With mid- and small-cap valuations still elevated, leadership can revert to large, well-capitalized groups during
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