Ganesh Chaturthi: These Nifty 50 stocks have gained the most since last year

Even as India gets ready to celebrate the upcoming festive season, with Ganesh Chaturthi just around the corner, the benchmark stock market indices have been zooming ahead. 

While the 30-stock BSE Sensex has breached the 58,000 mark, the National Stock Exchange’s Nifty 50, which tracks the 50 most valuable companies in the Indian stock market, has gone past the 17,000 level. 

Both benchmark indices have surged more than 50% since last year’s Ganesh Chaturthi, and it looks like the party is not likely to end anytime soon.

So, which stocks have performed the best between Ganesh Chaturthi 2020 and this year?

To gauge this, we looked at the stock price data between August 21, 2020, which was the last trading day before Ganesh Chaturthi last year, and September 7, 2021.

An analysis of stock price data shows that steel and metal stocks have done exceptionally well over the past year.

Top Nifty 50 gainers

The best-performing stock among the Nifty 50 pack has been Tata Steel, which has seen its price rise more than 233%. JSW Steel is also among the top five, shooting up 142% in the same period. 

In fact, the opening up of the economy following last year’s lockdowns, has meant that the metals and mining sectors are back in the reckoning. Another metal company in the top-10 list is Aditya Birla Group’s aluminium unit Hindalco, with its share price going up 135% in just over a year. 

Apart from mining and steel shares, cement seems to have been a favourite with Grasim and Ultratech Cement seeing their prices go up by 129% and 91%, respectively. 

Grasim is a holding company of the Aditya Birla Group. It is one of India's top producers of viscose staple fibre, chlor-alkali and linen. It is also the parent of UltraTech and financial services company Aditya Birla Capital Ltd

Other Nifty 50 counters that have seen their prices more than double since August 21 last year are the Bajaj twins—Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance —as well as Wipro, India’s third-largest software services exporter. 
Tata Motors, India’s biggest automaker by revenue, and Adani Ports, India’s biggest port operator, are also among the top gainers. 

The banking sector, too, has joined in the festivities led by State Bank of India, the nation’s biggest lender. The scrips of ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank also nearly doubled in value over this period.