India joins Switzerland, UK in number of firms with over $150 billion market capitalisation

The merger of HDFC twins has spawned a third Indian company to have a market capitalisation of at least $150 billion, a feat that till now been enjoyed by two entities — Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). In the process, the country has also joined with Switzerland and the UK in the number of companies having a market valuation of at least $150 billion.

While the US tops the list with 51 companies, commanding market valuations of a minimum of $150 billion, China and France follow suit with six and four companies, respectively. Three nations —  India, Switzerland, and the UK — each have three companies with a market capitalisation of greater than $150 billion, data sourced from Bloomberg show.

Interestingly, of the top ten equity markets, India has more companies listed on the bourses after the US and China. Moreover, Canada, the ninth largest equity market has not even a single firm with a similar magnitude of valuation.

The country's largest bank, Royal Bank of Canada commands a market capitalisation of $136 billion as of Thursday. Similarly, Japan, the third largest equity market has just one firm, Toyota Motor Corp. The auto giant boasts of a market capitaisation of $260.71 billion. While a little over 900 companies are listed on Switzerland exchanges, there are about 2,900 companies trading in the UK markets.

The largest stock market, the US contributes over 44 percent to the world equity market. While India accounts for 3.3 percent of the world market, France contributes 3.1 percent whereas the UK and Switzerland account for 2.8 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.

The merger of HDFC Bank and HDFC Ltd also witnessed the homegrown lender finding a place among the most valuable banks. With a market capitalisation of $150.85 billion, HDFC Bank has also left behind the Bank of China, Royal Bank of Canada, and many others in the market capitalisation rank.