While the 50-stock Nifty has a superior 12-month return of 10%, a comparison of top 100 stocks represented by Nifty 100, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 is a more like-to-like comparison.
The returns of Nifty 100 index stood at 7.4% as on May 20, 2025 and in this 53 stocks have delivered positive returns up to 64% while 44 stocks are in the red, falling by up to 57%. Meanwhile, the returns of Nifty Midcap 100 over a 12 month period stood at 8.3% with 48 stocks moving in the positive territory and 47 stocks were found to be trading in the red.
As for the Nifty Smallcap 100, the index has risen by 2.8% in the past one year with positive returns by 52 stocks while 42 stocks slipped into the red. Six stocks have not completed one year of listing.
The data does not include changes of the past trading session and today’s session as the latest data will be updated after market closing hours.
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Largecap leaders
In the Nifty 100 index, there are 34 stocks which have given double digit returns over a 1-year period and in this 20 stocks have given returns of 20% or more viz. Divi’s Laboratories, Bajaj Holdings & Investment, Bharat Electronics (BEL), Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, 34.22, The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), United Spirits, HDFC Life Insurance Company, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, TVS Motor Company, Interglobe Aviation (Indigo), Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Technologies, Mahindra & Mahindra, SBI Life Insurance Company and Tech Mahindra.
Among the biggest laggards were Punjab National Bank (PNB), Varun Beverages, Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), Tata Motors, JIO Financial Services, REC, ABB India, IndusInd Bank, Adani Green Energy and Siemens which have fallen between 20% and 57%.
Meanwhile, Swiggy, Bajaj Housing Finance and Hyundai Motor India have not completed 1 year of listing. Swiggy, which was listed on November 13, 2024 is trading 20% below its issue price of Rs 390. Meanwhile, Bajaj Housing Finance, which was listed on September 16, 2024 is trading 77% higher over the listing price of Rs 70. Hyundai Motor India got listed on October 22, 2024 and its shares are 2.5% lower from the upper price bank of Rs 1,960.
At the index level, the Nifty 100 index has given 7.8% returns in the past 12 months.
Midcap masters
In the Midcap 100 index, 33 stocks have given double-digit returns while three counters have turned multibaggers viz. BSE, One 97 Communications (Paytm) and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders yielding 164%, 147% and 132%, respectively.
Other stocks in the top 20 list include Dixon Technologies (India), Bharti Hexacom, Coforge, Persistent Systems, Solar Industries India, Bharat Dynamics, Jubilant FoodWorks, Suzlon Energy, Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Max Healthcare Institute, Max Financial Services, Page Industries, Kalyan Jewellers India, SRF, UPL and Motilal Oswal Financial Services (MOFSL) which have delivered between 85% and 27% returns.
Among the biggest laggards are Steel Authority Of India (SAIL), Adani Total Gas, IRB Infrastructure Developers, Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), Tata Technologies, Hindustan Zinc, Supreme Industries, Container Corporation Of India, Astral and Vodafone Idea which have declined between 28% and 51%.
Vishal Mega Mart, NTPC Green Energy, Premier Energies, OLA Electric Mobility and Waaree Energies have not completed one year of listing.
Premier Energies has had a stellar run since its listing and has turned multibagger with 140% growth over the issue price of Rs 450. The next top performer is Waaree with 101% rise over the issue price of Rs 1,503. Vishal has delivered 57% returns over the issue price of Rs 78 while Ola Electric has declined 33% from its issue price of Rs 76.
Small wonders
Investors have remained wary of smallcaps amid valuations concerns, preferring large and midcaps while remaining selective on this pack.
PG Electroplast (275%), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE, 112%) and Godfrey Phillips India (107%) are only multibaggers.
Others like Zen Technologies, Firstsource Solutions, Kaynes Technology India, Neuland Laboratories, Reliance Power, Aster DM Healthcare, Amber Enterprises India, Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals, Radico Khaitan, Aegis Logistics, PCBL Chemical, Shyam Metalics And Energy, KFin Technologies, PNB Housing Finance, Nuvama Wealth Management and Piramal Pharma which have given between 97% and 38% returns.
The biggest laggards include PVR Inox, Sonata Software, Trident, Cyient, Swan Energy, Titagarh Rail Systems, Ircon International, Birlasoft, Tejas Networks and Hindustan Copper which have seen their share price erode by 27%-42%.
Among the stocks that are trading below the issue price are Afcons Infrastructure, Brainbees Solutions (Firstcry) and International Gemmological Institute (India). Meanwhile, Go Digit General Insurance (21%), Inventurus Knowledge Solutions (19%) and Sagility India (46%) are trading above the upper price band.
Also Read: FII return sees Rs 46,000 crore buying spree, likely prefer largecaps vs broader market stocks. Here’s why
Trends
Markets have displayed resilience after the pause of Trump tariffs on April 9, 2025 and led a comeback of the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) which has helped market stabilize.
Geojit Investments’ VK Vijayakumar explains how largecap superiority has dominated the institutional mind off-late. He said that there is a big shift in market preference in favour of largecaps away from overvalued segments of mid and smallcaps is significant. FIIs are mainly buying largecaps and this trend can continue, he opined.
Puneet Sharma, CEO and Fund Manager at Whitespace Alpha said that smallcaps have remained in preference for retail investors and domestic mutual fund story at this point, with FIIs staying cautious due to elevated valuations and limited liquidity headroom.
Valuations: Largecaps Vs Midcaps Vs Smallcaps
JM Financial in a note said that large, mid and small cap indices are all trading one standard or more above the mean, which implies that absolute valuations are not cheap. “Looking at FY26E absolute P/E, one might interpret that relatively midcaps are the most expensive (Nifty Midcap 100 at 29.3x), followed by small caps (Nifty Smallcap at 25.2x), and large caps being the cheapest (Nifty50 at 20.6x),” a brokerage note said.
But the note also sees midcaps to be the cheapest (Nifty Midcap 100 at 1.3x) in terms of FY26E PEG followed by small caps (Nifty Smallcap 100x at 1.7x) and the largecaps being the most expensive (Nifty50 at 1.9x).
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
