It's like an elaborate game of snakes and ladders. There's a starting point, lots of ladders, a few snakes and lots of space for sideways movements. There's also a designated "Home" or final destination; but the game still carries on indefinitely, giving every laggard a chance of catching up with the leaders.

The BSE Sensex has climbed from 3,000 (3,130.46 to be exact; the starting point of our game) on May 28, 2003 to 7,076.52 on June 21, 2005 (the first day the market closed over 7,000). A random sampling shows that during these 25 months, the promoters of India's 50 most valuable companies by market capitalisation increased their collective net worth by a factor of at least three. We say at least because only their holdings in their leading listed companies have been considered. But India Inc. also has fabulous wealth locked up in privately held companies and trusts. This, obviously, could not be valued as it is out of the public domain.

That's just the bigger picture. The fine print makes for even more interesting reading. Azim Premji has been rolling out sixes at will and every throw of the dice takes him to yet another ladder. It's no surprise that he's the richest man in the land; his 83 per cent holding in Wipro is valued at Rs 43,872 crore. That's an increase of 167 per cent over his net worth of Rs 16,417 crore 25 months ago (see tables). In the process, he's just pipped the Ambani family, whose stake in Reliance Industries has risen 124 per cent in value from Rs 18,734 crore to Rs 42,006 crore during this period, to the post. Interestingly, the Ambanis had maintained a slender lead over Premji when the Sensex touched 3,000, 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000, respectively, and lost out only in its final surge past the 7,000-mark.

It's been a profitable 25 months for Kumar Mangalam Birla, too, though he hasn't hit too many ladders in the last 18 months. On May 28, 2003, his holdings in Grasim, Hindalco, Indian Rayon and Indo Gulf Fertilisers were worth Rs 2,505 crore. This grew to Rs 6,194 crore on June 21, 2005. But most of this growth took place in the first eight months of this 25-month period. Birla's holdings were worth Rs 6,058 crore on January 2, 2004, when the Sensex hit 6,000. That means he's added only Rs 136 crore or 2.25 per cent to his net worth in the last year-and-a-half.

THE INFOSYS STORY

Infosys' Murthy: Creating wealth ethically Infosys is unique among Indian companies because it has a clearly defined group of promoters, but no identifiable promoter family. That's because it is promoted by a group of professionals led by its Chairman and Chief Mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy. On June 21, 2005 (when the Sensex hit 7,000), Infosys had a market capitalisation of Rs 64,355 crore. This means Narayana Murthy's 6.01 per cent stake in Infosys was worth Rs 3,879 crore that day. CEO & Managing Director Nandan Nilekani's 4.17 per cent holding had a market value of Rs 2,691 crore, Chief Operating Officer S. 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan's 4.04 per cent shareholding gives him a personal net worth of Rs 2,607 crore and Director K. Dinesh's 2.96 per cent stake was worth Rs 1,910 crore. Director S.D. Shibulal's personal holding in the company was not available. The company's website quotes Narayana Murthy as saying: "The primary purpose of corporate leadership is to create wealth legally and ethically." He and his team have more than delivered on that.

HOW WE DID IT

The BSE sensex hit 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 and 7,000 on may 28, 2003, august 19, 2003, November 28, 2003, January 2, 2004 and June 21, 2005, respectively. We sourced data on the market cap of the companies featured in the list (BT 500, 2004, minus PSUs, MNCs and professionally run companies) on those days from CMIE and the BSE website. Using data on promoter shareholding on those dates, we arrived at the value of the promoter holdings. For the Ambanis, only Reliance Industries data has been used as the group's holdings in Reliance Energy, Reliance Capital and IPCL are through the flagship. Similarly, the Aditya Birla Group's stake in Ultratech Cement is held through other group companies, and so, hasn't been considered while calculating K.M. Birla's personal wealth in his listed companies.

Globally, companies have used high priced stocks as a currency to acquire assets. Remember how then AOL chief Steve Case parleyed his hugely overpriced stock to take over media megalith Time Warner Corporation? That the merger proved ill fated is another matter. Why isn't this happening here? India Inc. obviously seems to have missed a trick. "Typically, stocks are used as currency in more mature markets where the pricing is more transparent. We are getting there and I'm sure this phenomenon will become visible in India in a few years," says Vallabh Bhansali, Chairman of Enam Financial, adding, "But since most Indian companies are family run, a dilution of their stakes is unlikely in the near future."

Sunil Mittal's story is the most interesting here. He began the game with a personal net worth of Rs 3,267 crore. By the time the Sensex touched 7,000, he had multiplied this by a factor of six-plus: on June 21, 2005, his family's 46.6 per cent holding in Bharti Tele-Ventures was worth Rs 20,527 crore. Other multi-baggers include Anand Mahindra of Mahindra & Mahindra, N. Prasad of Matrix Labs and Dilip Sanghvi of Sun Pharma (all 4 times), Desh Bandhu Gupta of Lupin Labs and Ajay Piramal of Nicholas Piramal (both 3), B.M. Munjal of Hero Honda (3.3) and Rahul Bajaj of Bajaj Auto (2.9).

But our game had one loser over the 25-month period under review: Anji Reddy of Dr Reddy's Labs seems to have stepped on more than his fair share of snakes. This resulted in his net worth dipping from Rs 1,656.67 crore to Rs 1,451.93 crore. But it wasn't always like this. In the eight months between May 2003 and January 2, 2004, he hit several ladders and doubled his personal wealth to Rs 2,856 crore. But the snakes (damn them), in the form of us court cases, have ruined his formbook since then.

But the game isn't over yet. There's always a tomorrow.

-additional reporting by Kumarkaushalam and Charudutta Jena

These Small guys won big time

Retail investors rode the stock market boom to greater riches.

URMI JAIN
32/ Printing Executive/Mumbai

Urmi Jain is really passionate about the stock market, which she entered last year with an initial corpus of Rs 50,000. That has appreciated to Rs 1 lakh now. "The basic nature of the market is extremely capricious, but then, there is nothing exhilarating about predictability," exclaims the Mumbai Co-ordinator of Shrenik Printing, who watches CNBC for information on the markets. "It is important to be clear about some fundamentals: what is your risk tolerance? And how much time are you willing to spend on it? I have an extremely low risk appetite, and prefer to follow a stop loss strategy," she adds. In the process, she ends up spending a good four-five hours every day actively tracking the market. Her favourites: Arvind Mills and Bank of India; she made 30 per cent returns on each investment. Jain, who manages her portfolio online through Indiabulls, is unwilling to share any details beyond that.

-Priyanka Sangani

VASHU BHAGNANI
44/ Film Producer/Mumbai

Vashu Bhagnani has a well-defined investment philosophy. "I buy only when the market is low," he says. "It's either blue chips like Reliance, or stocks that are doing well on the market," he adds. Recently, he made good money on Adlabs, which he had bought at Rs 120 and offloaded at almost twice the price. How much has he invested in stocks? Bhagnani, who produced films such as Biwi No. 1 and Bade Miya Chhote Miya, skirts that one with a smile.

-Priyanka Sangani

ANSHUMAN PANDA
25/ Management Trainee/ Mumbai

Anshuman Panda, a management trainee at Design Tech, a Mumbai-based design firm, started with an investment of Rs 25,000 one-and-a-half years ago. The stock market boom has taken this to Rs 60 000. "I had bought the TCS stock at Rs 950 soon after its IPO; I sold out a few months later at Rs 1,300," he says. Panda, who reads the pink papers and online fund management portals regularly, has also developed a gut feel for stocks. He's now looking at stocks that will give good long-term returns.

-Priyanka Sangani

B.V. RAMA RAJU
40/ Airline Executive/ Hyderabad

If buying an apartment for Rs 30 lakh and a Toyota Corolla is tantamount to flaunting wealth, then yes, the Rajus will have to plead guilty. Raju's wife Suman got Rs 1 crore from her father in 2002 and then began the couple's second tryst with the stock market. Raju, a Deputy Chief (Aircraft) Engineer at Indian Airlines, had earlier invested Rs 7 lakh in the market at the peak of the Ketan Parekh-led boom, only to lose Rs 4 lakh. But they've learnt their lessons well. "Those who stay invested in the market will get good returns. The only caveat: the portfolio should be diversified," says Raju, who adds that he's happy with the 15-17 per cent returns he receives every year. The couple does not invest directly in the market, but uses portfolio management and wealth management service providers.

-E. Kumar Sharma

VIJAY PRIMLANI
39/ Book Publisher & Distributor/ Delhi

Vijay Primlani-pictured here with family-director at Oxford & IBH Publishing Co., has little time for research. "I depend on my gut feel or on my broker's advice," he says. And he's making good money-15-20 per cent per annum. "I am beating the market, beating deposit rates, in fact, beating all other investment opportunities," boasts Primlani, who declines to reveal the size of his portfolio. He is very bullish about Mangalam Timber, a company he knows little about. "I don't care," he says," I've got more than a bang for my buck."

-Sahad P.V.

M.V.R. NAGESWARA RAO
55/ SME Businessman/ Hyderabad

M.V.K. Nageswara Rao lost money both during the Harshad Mehta scam and during the Ketan Parekh scam. But he, too, learnt his lesson. Rao, who had bought Aurobindo Pharma shares at Rs 100 each six years ago, sold them at Rs 375 a piece after a 1:2 split. The Rs 1 crore he has invested in the stock market gave 40 per cent returns over the last 12 months. He used part of these profits to buy an apartment recently.

-E. Kumar Sharma

NARESH KHANDURI
31/ IT Professional/ Bangalore

"I put 70 per cent of my money (about Rs 10 lakh) in strong companies like HLL, TCS and NTPC," says Naresh Khanduri-seen here with wife-an e-biz architect with Wipro Technologies. Khanduri, who depends on business portals and TV channels for information, purchased 100 TCS shares at Rs 965 just after the IPO in August last year and sold it at Rs 1,400 10 months later. "I look for 20 per cent appreciation on my investments," he says. But not all his calls pay off. He bought 40 shares of Jet at Rs 1,350, only to see them dip to Rs 1,260.

-Rahul Sachitanand

KURBANS SINGH
65/ Retired Insurance Executive/ Delhi

Kurbans Singh jots down his trading strategy in a notebook every morning. His portfolio contains 33 stocks; these include BEML, Adlabs and Oriental Bank of Commerce. He wants to sell all of them. "The market is at its peak. I will book profits now," says Singh, who retired from New India Assurance as an assistant general manager five years ago. Singh has Rs 21 lakh riding on different stocks and makes a cool Rs 60,000 a month from day trading. "That funds all my home expenses," he laughs.

Sahad P.V.

SUNIL HINGORANI
41/ Senior BPO Executive/Delhi

He lost a mini fortune in the 1992 Harshad Mehta scam. But Sunil Hingorani-seen here with family-a Director at a leading BPO, re-entered the market after 10 years when the Sensex was at 2,800-2,900 levels. He now makes enough from stocks to take his family abroad for vacations twice a year. Hingorani bought 6,000 shares of Sical at Rs 20 apiece a year ago. The shares are currently trading at Rs 190. Little wonder then, his portfolio has doubled from Rs 25 lakh a year ago

-Sahad P.V.

A.P. MAHESHWAR
32/ Dentist/ Chennai

A.P. Maheshwar is at his stock broking terminal when the market opens and gets to his clinic only after it closes. "I have invested Rs 25-30 lakh in the stock market," says Maheswar, who often seeks advice from his stock broker friends and patients. He bought shares of FinTec at Rs 170-odd in late January and sold most of his shares for Rs 650 three months later. He also made a tidy sum on SBI, which he bought at Rs 150 and sold at Rs 650 six years later. "It's a challenge to hit the 20 per cent-plus returns mark," says the dentist who may now buy himself a foreign holiday with some of his trading profits.

-Rahul Sachitanand

Cashing Out At A Premium

Some promoters are capitalising on the stock market boom by selling small stakes and booking handsome profits.

By Sahad P.V.

In March this year, Sunil Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Tele-Ventures, (pictured above), raised Rs 60 crore by selling 27.5 lakh of his flagship's shares in the open market at Rs 220 a piece. A year ago, Bharti's share was trading at Rs 100 levels	Adlabs Co-founder Manmohan Shetty (seen below) plans to increase his shareholding in the company, even as Co-founder Vasanji Manania netted Rs 100 crore by offloading his 31.5 per cent stake in it to Anil Ambani's Reliance Capital

The Indian stock markets are at an all-time high. So what better time to cash out and book some profits? That's precisely what some promoters of India Inc. are doing. In March this year, Sunil Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Tele-Ventures, sold 27.5 lakh shares at Rs 220 apiece in the open market for Rs 60 crore. A year ago, Bharti's share price was hovering around Rs 100, so Mittal's timing has fetched twice the money he would have received then. The sale was to mobilise funds for his investments in new projects like airports and exports of fresh vegetables. Besides Bharti, there are several other companies like Mahindra & Mahindra, Great Eastern Shipping, Matrix Laboratories and Arvind Mills where promoters' holdings have seen a dip, albeit marginal (see table). That number would swell to several dozens if the sample is expanded to BSE 500.

There are some promoters who have sold out completely. For instance, Vasanji A. Manania of Adlabs Films sold his 31.5 per cent stake in the company to Anil Ambani's Reliance Capital this June, making a cool Rs 100 crore in the process. Manania couldn't have chosen a better time; Adlabs shares have run up from Rs 64 a year ago to the upwards of Rs 300 (his colleague and co-founder Manmohan Shetty, however, decided to stay invested in the firm.)

When the market is hot, it's natural that the IPO (initial public offer) market hots up (there were some 50 issues in the last two years and none of them was undersubscribed). But what prompts already listed companies to go in for follow-up public offers (FPOs)? They can cash in on high stock valuations by pricing the issue at close to the market value. The last two years saw at least 25 FPOs. A majority of the issues was by public sector banks such as Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank and Dena Bank. However, several private sector companies like IVRCL, ICICI Bank and Weal Infotech, too, have cashed in on the market-run up.

The promoter-holdings in Arvind Mills (above, Sanjay Lalbhai, MD) dipped by over 1 per cent between September 2004 and March 2005; the stock trades at Rs 131 today	N. Prasad, Chairman of the Hyderabad-based pharma giant Matrix Laboratories, saw his holdings dip by 2.51 per cent during the period between September 2004 and March 2005

Now there are several other promoters who are looking to cash out. For instance, the G.P. Goenka Group is believed to be toying with the idea of selling its stake in Andhra Cements (where it holds 71.60 per cent stake) for Rs 100 crore to finance the proposed corporate debt restructuring of flagship Duncan Industries. The icing on the cake is the control premium it will get if it exits the company fully. G.P. Goenka, however, denies the move. "I have no plans of diluting my stake in Andhra Cements," he says.

In fact, there is no single reason why promoters are selling shares. The Tayals of Bank of Rajasthan (BOR) are in talks with the French bank Societe Generale (SocGen) and a few other investors to sell a 14.75 per cent stake in the bank. What better time than now to sell the stake when the bank's shares have doubled in value over the last year to Rs 60? Likewise, the market run-up is one reason why private equity firm Barings has chosen to put its 36 per cent stake in Mphasis on the block. The sale, which is expected to go through in the next few weeks (maybe days), will fetch Barings a return of four to six times its initial investment.

There are several deals in the offing that have escaped media attention. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) website lists some bulk deals, a majority of them executed by the promoters themselves. But not everyone's intentions are above board. There are instances of unscrupulous promoters selling their existing holdings at high prices in the secondary market, only to buy it back when the price falls.

Says Ashish Chugh, a stock analyst with Valuenotes.com: "The buoyancy in the stock market could prompt promoters to liquidate their shares. There can be several reasons for promoters diluting their stake. One, they could be mobilising funds for new projects; secondly, they could just be making money by selling their shares at higher prices and buying back them at lower prices later. And there are others who offload shares to raise funds for restructuring their debt".

Regardless of motives, the bull run past the 7000 mark has provided promoters with an opportunity to make a quick buck.