However, not everything turned to gold on Dalal Street as a handful names have been unable to deliver positive returns even in the last 105 weeks.
According to data from Ace Equity, at least 30 companies have delivered negative returns to investors, with five counters eroding more than 65 per cent of the investors’ wealth.
Market participants said that the majority of these stocks have their own issues including high debt, poor fundamentals and sub-standard corporate governance practices, whereas the rest are hit by scanty consumer demand.
Sonam Srivastava, Founder at Wright Research, Sebi Registered Investment Advisor said that despite the big rally post the pandemic crash and big recovery across all sectors, some stocks have been unable to rise above the pre-pandemic levels.
“While a few aberrations are marred by specific issues, the decline of big consumer names and financials speaks of the slowdown in consumer demand and the big impact of the pandemic on the financial services sector,” she added.
Kishore Biyani’s Future Lifestyle Fashions tops the list of laggards with a 78 per cent decline. The scrip plunged to Rs 36.8 on March 28, 2022 from its close at Rs 168.35 on March 23, 2022.
Other Future Group stocks such as Future Retail and Future Supply Chain Solutions have tanked 68 per cent and 66 per cent respectively. Future Consumer and Future Enterprises have tumbled more than 40 per cent each.
Debt-ridden Future Group has been in a legal tussle with Amazon India for selling its businesses to Billionaire Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries.
The returns on some stocks have been negative owing to several factors, Neha Khanna, Director, ValPro, a tech based investment banking platform.
“The recovery has been hit by global factors such as the geopolitical worries, higher crude prices, supply worries, increase in input cost due to spike in raw material prices,” she added. “The market has also corrected for overvalued stocks.”
GE Power India has tanked about 72 per cent as the scrip dropped to Rs 138.3 from Rs 488.2 during the period under review. It is followed by beleaguered private lender Yes Bank which tanked 68 per cent to Rs 12.58 from Rs 39.75.
Real Estate player Omaxe plunged 47 per cent, whereas microfinance lender Spandana Sphoorty Financial dived 42 per cent since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sadbhav Infrastructure Project, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Aurum Proptech, Asian Granito India, Ujjivan Financial Services, Sadbhav Engineering, Bliss GVS Pharma, Take Solutions, DCB Bank have fallen between 20-40 per cent each.
Gulf Oil, Snowman Logistics, Hitachi Air Conditioning, Huhtamaki India, Federal-Mogul, Indostar Capital, RBL Bank, Bharat Road , Whirlpool Of India, City Union Bank, Zee Learn, HDFC AMC have also posted negative returns during the period.
ETMarkets.comAsutosh Mishra, Head of Research – Institutional Equity, Ashika Group said that despite upbeat economic performance, many stocks are still languishing as India, thanks to large outflow from the equities due to rich valuations.
“Future earning prospect looks challenging for many companies because of persistent inflationary worries, supply chain disruption, ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and resurgence of covid-19 cases, he warned.