Samvat 2067, which began on an upbeat note when the Sensex closed above the 21,000-mark during muhurat trading on November 5, 2010, has belied that initial promise.

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In the last three months, the Sensex has fallen steadily, eroding the wealth of the promoters of many Gujarat companies, the biggest of them being Gautam Adani, followed by Sudhir Mehta and Samir Mehta of Torrent Group.

The Sensex fell sharply again on Friday and lost over 441 points before closing at 18,008 points, itslowest level since August 31 last year. This is a far cry from the buoyant mood on which it had opened Samvat 2067 when the BSE benchmark closed above the 21,000-mark during muhurat trading on November 5, 2010.

At the end of trading on Friday (February 4, 2011), the wealth of Gautam Adani (promoter of Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, and Mundra Port & SEZ) stood at Rs92,464 crore. It had fallen by 19% since November 5, 2010, when his wealth stood at Rs1,14,204 crore. Sudhir Mehta and Samir Mehta, promoters of the Torrent group of companies, are the next biggest losers after Adani.

The wealth of the Torrent Group (which includes Torrent Pharma, Torrent Power and Torrent Cables) has fallen by Rs2,081 crore in the 3 months since muhurat trading last year. On February 4, 2011, it stood at Rs8,949 crore.

The Ahmedabad-based engineering major, AIA Engineering, promoted by Bhadresh Shah lost Rs426 crore in the slide since November 5 last year.

"Adani being active in the derivative segment is more vulnerable to stock market movements," said Nilesh Kotak, MD, Dhanvarsha Fincap Pvt Ltd. "This is why Adani scrips have been hit the worst. As for the Torrent Group, its financial results were not up to the mark, which is why its total wealth has declined."