Rediff
New Delhi, Jul 18: Everything about Rashtrapati Bhawan has been pretty much the same since it was built in 1931, but the presidential palace's new occupant next week will find that the office is the custodian of fortunes worth over Rs 700,000 crore (Rs 7,000 billion) in terms of share prices alone.
This includes about Rs 600,000 crore (Rs 6,000 billion) worth shares in the name of the President of India across about 50 listed firms, while shares worth another Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1,000 billion) in another 10 companies are registered in the name of the President's nominees in the central government.
As the country prepares to elect its new first citizen on Thursday, an analysis of shares held under the President's name shows the value of shares has rallied nearly six times from about Rs 1,18,000 crore (Rs 1,180 billion) from July 25, 2002 -- the day when the incumbent A P J Abdul Kalam assumed office -- till now.
During the same period, total investor wealth has grown nearly 7.5 times from about Rs 6,00,000 crore -- making it the biggest five-year bull run for the tenure of any President.
Kalam has seen as many as 13 '1,000-point' milestones for the stock market's benchmark Sensex during his tenure � from 3,000 levels in May 2003 to 15,000 levels earlier this month.
Together, the holdings under the President's name represent over 15 per cent of total investors' wealth of about Rs 45,00,000 crore (Rs 45,000 billion) invested in the equity market, based on the cumulative market capitalisation of all the publicly listed companies in the country.
The Indian constitution provides for all the executive action or the conduct of business of the Government of India to be taken in the name of the President. Accordingly, all the shareholdings of the central government are in the name of the President or his nominees in the establishment.
In comparison, the fortunes under the previous occupant of the Presidential palace on Raisina Hill, K R Narayanan, had risen by just Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion). His tenure -- July 25, 1997 to July 24, 2002 -- was when the bourses were going through a weak phase.
Prior to that, the total market capitalisation of the listed entities on Indian bourses had moved from about Rs 200,000 crore (Rs 2,000 billion) to Rs 550,000 crore (Rs 5,500 billion) during the five-year tenure of Shankar Dayal Sharma from 1992 to 1997.
Major gains were registered between 1987 and 1992 as well when R Venkatraman was in the office and the total market cap rose nearly five times to close to Rs 200,000 crore.
From 1982 to 1987, when Giani Zail Singh was in office, the total investor wealth multiplied nearly four times. In the previous five-year tenure of Neelam Sanjiv Reddy, it nearly doubled from just Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) to close to Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion).
Currently, the most valued holding in the President's portfolio is the public sector oil and gas giant ONGC [Get Quote], where the President holds shares worth about Rs 142,000 crore (Rs 1,420 billion) with a 74.14 per cent stake. Five years ago, it was worth about Rs 41,000 crore (Rs 410 billion), even with a higher 84.11 per cent stake.
Besides, the President also holds shares worth about Rs 115,000 crore (Rs 1,150 billion) in another PSU giant NTPC with a stake of 89.5 per cent. NTPC was not a listed entity five years ago.
The other major holdings include Indian Oil [Get Quote], National Aluminium, MMTC, Neyveli [Get Quote] Lignite, newly listed Power Finance Corp, Punjab National Bank [Get Quote], steel major SAIL [Get Quote], Hind Copper, Hindustan Zinc [Get Quote], power equipment major BHEL and Container Corp.
In Indian Oil, the President's holding has gone down from 82.03 per cent to 80.35 per cent, but its value has grown from about Rs 12,700 crore (Rs 127 billion) to near Rs 41,000 crore.
The President is the largest shareholder in a majority of the companies present in the portfolio.