The maximum increase in intangible value during March 31, 1999 and February29, 2000 was noticed in the case of Reliance Industries (53829.1 per cent),followed by Himachal Futuristic (6555.7 per cent), Mcdowell &Co (6348.0 percent), Zee Telefilms (2965.7 per cent), SSI (2494.6 per cent), ICICI Bank(1613.6 per cent), Global Tele-System (1362.2 per cent) and InfosysTechnology (1286.3 per cent).

On the other hand significant decline in the intangible value during theabove period was noticed in the case of Amara Raja Batteries (-92.6 percent), BHEL (-84.5 per cent), Esab (-88.8 per cent), Bausch&Lomb (-79.3 percent), Wartsila NSD (-67.9 per cent), Bajaj Auto (-65.7 per cent), CarrierAircon (-64.1 per cent) and Ingersoll-Rand (-62.7 per cent).

Nor was infotech or media the only sectors which generated intangible value.Industries which recorded an improvement in intangible value were cement &products (136.7 per cent), other chemicals (35.6 per cent), electrical goods(172.6 per cent), engineering others (137.2 per cent), pharmaceuticals (32.2per cent), PSU (486.2 per cent), computers (software & hardware) (472.6 percent), tyres & tubes (47.6 per cent) and Misc (194.4 per cent).

A decline in intangible value was witnessed in the case of auto & autoancilleries (-4.5 per cent), electricity (-79.7 per cent), food products(-28.4 per cent) and Hotels (-58.5 per cent).

All the remaining industries such as bank, fertilisers, cotton textiles,diversified, financial institutions, NBFCs and paper & products had negativeintangible assets in any one of the two time points. In the group of 10computers (software & hardware) companies, the market capitalisationincreased by 447.7 per cent to Rs 1,91,040 crore on February 29, 2000 fromthe level of Rs 34,877 crore on March 31, 1999. But the net worth of thesecompanies increased by only 3.2 per cent to Rs 1,905 crore in February 29,2000 from the level of Rs 1,846 crore in March 31, 1999. So the theintangible assets of these computer companies group increased by 472.6 percent to Rs 1,89,136 crore on February 29, 2000 from the level of Rs 33,032crore on March 31, 1999.

Intangible value has a significant role in defining the growth of a company.It is defined as market capitalisation minus net worth. An attempt is madehere to see the percentage variation of intangible assets of A Groupcompanies between March 31, 1999 and February 29, 2000.

For the study sample of 146 A Group companies, the intangible assets hasincreased by 222.0 per cent to Rs 5,66,291 crore on February 29, 2000 fromthe level of Rs 1,75,852 crore on March 31, 1999.

The sample of 146 companies spanned across selected 20 industries of auto &auto ancilleries (9 units), bank (7), cement & products (4), other chemicals(13), computers (hardware & software) (10), diversified (5), electricity (2)electrical goods (11), engineering others (11), fertilisers (4), financialinstitutions (2) food products (6), hotels (2), NBFCs (3), PSUs (11), paper& products (2), pharmaceuticals (18), cotton textiles (2), tyres & tubes (2)and misc (22) Of the 146 companies, the top 10 in terms of positiveintangible assets on February 29, 2000 are Wipro (Rs 1,50,844 crore), HindLever (Rs 61,573 crore), Infosys Technology (Rs 56,998 crore), Zee Telefilms(Rs 50,562 crore), Satyam Computer (Rs 28,086 crore), Reliance Industries(Rs 19,743 crore), ITC (Rs 16,189 crore), Reliance Petro (Rs 13,297 crore),MTNL (Rs 12,329 crore) and Himachal Futuristic (Rs 10,957 crore).

On the earlier date of March 31, 1999, the top 10 in terms of positiveintangible assets were Hindustan Lever (Rs 47,998 crore), ITC (Rs 21,399crore), Wipro (Rs 17,916 crore), Ranbaxy (Rs 6,306 crore), Nestle (Rs 5,278crore), Glaxo (Rs 5,158 crore), MTNL (Rs 4,877 crore), Castrol (Rs 4,769crore), Bajaj Auto (Rs 4,650 crore) and NIIT (Rs 4,418 crore).

Four companies namely Hindustan Lever, ITC, Wipro and MTNL are common inboth the year list of top 10. Similarly, bottom 10 in terms of positiveintangible assets on February 29, 2000 were EIH (Rs 7 crore), Esab (Rs 11crore), Amara Raja Batteries (Rs 13 crore), BASF (Rs 51 crore), Bausch &Lomb (59 crore), LML (Rs 80 crore), Wartsila NSD (91 crore), Apollo Tyres(Rs 129 crore) and Carrier Aircon (Rs 139 crore). But on March 31, 1999, thebottom 10 were Sesa Goa (Rs 5 crore), McDowell & Co (Rs 12 crore), RelianceIndustries (Rs 37 crore), Atlas Copco (Rs 51 crore), Supreme Industries (Rs60 crore), Esab (Rs 101 crore), Finolex Cables (Rs 113 crore), Madras Cement(Rs 121 crore), BASF (Rs 127 crore) and LML (Rs 128 crore). Four companiesnamely Atlas Copco, BASF, Esab and LML are commom in both the year list ofbottom 10. On February 29, 2000, 34 companies showed negative intangibleassets.

Notable among them are Bank of Baroda (-Rs 12.78 crore), Bank of India (-Rs10.53 crore), GSFC (-Rs 10.93 crore), HPCL (-Rs 12.89 crore), IDBI (-Rs57.89 crore), IPCL (-Rs 10.13 crore) and SAIL (-Rs 42.00 crore).

On March 31, 1999, the number was 44. Significant among them are Bank ofBaroda (-Rs 15.60 crore), Bank of India (-Rs 11.30 crore), Grasim Industries(-Rs 14.97 crore), GSFC (-Rs 11.55 crore), Hindalco (-Rs 13.67 crore), ICICI(-Rs 29.25 crore), IDBI (-Rs 70.07 crore), SAIL (-Rs 45.51 crore) andVideocon International (-Rs 11.02 crore).