234-year-old company EID Parry is only a tad more valuable than year-old unicorn GlobalBees

• Chennai-based EID Parry is the oldest company in the 2022 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 list of most-valued private companies, with a value of ₹10,987 crore.
  
• The value of the 234-year-old EID Parry is not very far from that of the youngest company on the list – GlobalBees which is valued at ₹9,100 crore.
  
• The list has 25 companies which are over 100 years old.
  

One of India’s oldest companies, the Chennai-based EID Parry, has made it to the Hurun list of 500 most valuable private companies in India. Valued at ₹10,987 crore, EID Parry was founded 1788 by a Welshman named Thomas Parry — much before the British crown took over the rule of India.

The value of the new almost equals that of the old

An interesting feature on the 2022 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 list is that the value of the 234-year-old sugar and nutraceutical maker EID Parry is not very far from that of the youngest company on the list – GlobalBees which is valued at ₹9,100 crore.

This startup, which was founded after the Covid-19 pandemic set in and acquires and partners with direct-to-consumer brands, became a unicorn after raising funds in one of India’s largest Series A financing rounds.

“In the long run, startup value creation is going to significantly increase the velocity of companies entering the future editions of the Burgundy Private Hurun India 500. For instance, Zepto and Mensa Brands took just 2 years since their founding year to enter the list. The next wave of most-valuable startups will be championed by founders who are building for the bottom 800 million people and for climate/ sustainability,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, MD and chief researcher, Hurun India.

The list is a generous mix of old and new companies, with 25 companies that are over 100 years old, says the report compiled by Burgundy Private, Axis Bank’s Private Banking Business, and Hurun India.

Media conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Bennett Coleman, which is currently valued at ₹7,400 crore, has been ranked second in the list of oldest companies.

One of the oldest stock market indexes, Bombay Stock Exchange, incorporated in 1875, ranks sixth position on the list. Dabur India, Britannia Industries, Godrej & Boyce are some of the other popular golden oldies on the list.

“A unique feature of the Indian economy is traditional industrial groups, many of which started over 100 years ago. The top 10 industrial groups own 61 or 12% of the 2022 Burgundy Private Hurun India 500 between them, led by Tata Group with 15 companies followed by the Adani Group with 8 and Murugappa Group with 6,” said Junaid.

Unsurprisingly, 6 of the top ten oldest companies are from Mumbai.

Top 10 oldest companies

The young and the valuable

The report features around 153 companies founded in this millennium out of which 64 are startups which are less than 10 years old.

Apart from GlobalBees, Mensa Brands, Zepto, Apna, and CRED made it to the list. Kunal Shah’s CRED and BharatPe are some of the youngest fintechs startups to be included in the 500 list by Hurun India.

Kaivalya Vohra and Aadit Palicha-founded quick delivery startup Zepto is the fourth youngest company to be named in the top 500 most valuable companies in India. The company, which started during the pandemic, is valued at ₹7,500 crore.

This September, 19-year-old Vohra of Zepto was also named as the ‘youngest richest Indian’ by the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022.

CRED is the most valuable among the top ten youngest companies on the list, followed by Vodafone India, Motherson Sumi Wiring India and BharatPe. Five of the most ‘new’ valuable companies in the top 10 are from Karnataka like Zepto and Apna.

Source: Hurun Report

RIL retains top spot as India’s most valuable

Reliance Industries, valued at ₹17.3 lakh crore, has been named as India’s most valuable company by the Hurun report. Tata Consultancy Services, valued at ₹11.7 lakh crore and HDFC Bank, valued at ₹8.3 lakh crore ranked second and third respectively.

Covid-19 vaccine producer Serum Institute of India is India’s most valuable unlisted company at ₹2.2 lakh crore.

Around 53 companies which featured in last year’s edition list did not make the list this year.

The 500 companies named in this year’s list created 3.9 lakh new jobs in the last one year, employing 11.6 lakh women.

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