TCS Becomes India's Most Valued Company at $84bn Market Cap

Indian outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has become the second most valuable IT services provider after IBM, following a surge in its market capitalisation.

The company's market capitalisation rose to 5.3tn rupees ($83.8bn, £49.1bn, €62.2bn) on 23 July – the highest valuation since its listing 10 years ago. In contrast, global market leader IBM has a market capitalisation of $193.7bn, while the third largest player Ireland's Accenture is valued at $51bn.

TCS has also become the most valued company in India, leapfrogging state-owned oil giant ONGC, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries and consumer goods giant ITC, which are currently valued at 3.5tn rupees, 3.3tn rupees and 2.8tn rupees, respectively.

It is the first Indian company to achieve 5tn-rupee market capitalisation.

In addition, TCS's market value is more than the combined value of the second and third largest India IT services firms. The second largest player, Infosys, is currently valued at 1.9tn rupees, while the third largest Wipro is valued at 1.4tn rupees.

Earlier, the company announced robust first-quarter results, with $845m of net profits on $3.69bn of revenue. Shares in the company have since risen about 9%, and several analysts tagged the stock with a "buy".

TCS has surged nearly 20% so far in the year 2014 and almost 48% in the last one year.

The company won several large clients in the first quarter of fiscal year 2014-15, and several brokerages have raised their target price for the stock up to 3,100 rupees. TCS is currently trading at 2,578 rupees.

Indian IT services firms largely depend on clients from the US and Europe for their business. Following a slowdown after the financial crisis in 2008, the US and European economies are recovering and companies have started spending again.

Analysts expect TCS to gain significantly from the favourable business climate.