KOCHI: The Indian stock markets, which have soared to record highs, saw the creation of new billionaires from Kerala after companies they founded were listed in 2023. Meanwhile, the biggest state-based beneficiaries of the recent bull run have been Kalyan Jewellers promoters Kalayanaraman T S and his sons T K Seetharam and T K Ramesh after the company’s stock jumped 180% in the last 12 months from Rs 126.45 to Rs 354.45.
Kalyanaraman’s 20.94% stake in the jeweller was worth Rs 7,645.10 crore, at the end of trading on December 29, against Rs 2,7,27.39 crore a year earlier. Likewise, the worth of the 18.06% stake of each of his two sons went up from Rs 2,352.78 crore to Rs 6,595.04 crore over the same period.
While the benchmark Nifty rose 20% in 2023, BSE’s Sensex gave 19% returns, the best performance of the indices since 2021. The market debut of ESAF Small Finance Bank and Muthoot Microfin Ltd saw the creation of new billionaires from the state. ESAF founder K Paul Thomas’ 6.06% stake in the Thrissur-based small finance bank is now valued at Rs 215 crore.
If the shares held by ESAF Financial Holdings (52.94% stake) and ESAF Swasraya Multi State Agro-Cooperative Society (4.35%) in the bank are taken into consideration, the promoter group’s stake would be worth Rs 2,243.76 crore.
The three promoters of Muthoot Microfin, the micro-finance arm of Muthoot FinCorp (Muthoot Pappachan Group) -- Thomas John Muthoot, Thomas George Muthoot and Thomas Muthoot -- each hold a 1.75% stake which is now worth Rs 74.92 crore. The family’s holding of 5.26% is worth Rs 225.32 crore.
In terms of stock performance, Wonderla Holdings also had an excellent run, gaining 146.38% in 2023. This has benefitted investors, besides boosting the value of the Chittilappilly family, its promoters. Managing director Arun K Chittilappilly’s 35.73% holding was valued at Rs 1,702.44 crore on Friday, up from Rs 690.96 crore a year earlier. The Wonderla stock closed Friday’s trading at Rs 842.15. It was priced at Rs 341.8 on the last trading day of 2022.
Kochi-based Geojit Financial Services was also a winner. Its share price gained from Rs 47.35 to Rs 78.29 apiece over the same one-year period. The value of the 18.12% stake of its founder, C J George, went up from Rs 205.69 crore to Rs 339 crore.
V P Nandakumar’s holding in Manappuram Finance rose from Rs 2,847 crore to Rs 4,220 crore. He has a 29% stake in the gold finance company. Muthoot Finance promoters George Jacob Muthoot, George Thomas Muthoot (each with a 10.87% stake) and George Alexander Muthoot (5.89% stake) were among the other gainers. While George Jacob and George Thomas’ stake went up from Rs 4,639.9 crore to Rs 6,445.8 crore, George Alexander’s holding value increased to Rs 3,491.11 crore from Rs 2,513.02 crore.
Perhaps the only underperformer was V-Guard Industries. The value of the company shares held by managing director Mithun Chittilappilly went up by just 11.04% in 2023 from Rs 2,271.62 crore to Rs 2,522.58 crore.