Understand stocks by industry in India

In our article “All companies listed on BSE in India”, we looked at how you can use group classification by BSE to understand 5000 listed companies. BSE has made these groups based on liquidity, volatility, trustworthiness etc. of a company. Here we go a step further and look at the industry classification of these companies for a better stock selection. To predict future market potential & growth prospects of a company, you should first understand stocks by industry in India.

Understand stocks by industry in India

We have 3962 companies in India which are active on the Bombay Stock Exchange. (you must read the breakup – all companies listed on Bombay Stock Exchange). These companies can be clubbed together under 122 industries as illustrated below.

Here we have considered all the BSE group classifications. Now in case you are already in a hunt for figuring out quality stocks & multi-baggers, we need to look at Group A, B, M & X which constitute 2645 stocks. (Reference to all companies on BSE).

Industry wise breakup of active stocks on BSE

S.No.	Industry	No. of stocks
1	Finance (including NBFCs)	320
2	Textiles	275
3	Commodity Trading & Distribution	236
4	Other Financial Services	203
5	Pharmaceuticals	168
6	Realty	141
7	Construction & Engineering	110
8	Auto Parts & Equipment	107
9	Commodity Chemicals	106
10	Iron & Steel/Interm.Products	105
11	Other Apparels & Accessories	105
12	Misc.Commercial Services	95
13	IT Software Products	88
14	IT Consulting & Software	82
15	Specialty Chemicals	78
16	Plastic Products	67
17	Containers & Packaging	65
18	Other Elect.Equip./ Prod.	62
19	Other Agricultural Products	56
20	Paper & Paper Products	54
21	Packaged Foods	52
22	Hotels	49
23	Cement & Cement Products	48
24	Investment Companies	42
25	Banks	41
26	Electric Utilities	40
27	Movies & Entertainment	40
28	Other Industrial Products	38
29	Sugar	38
30	Other Industrial Goods	37
31	Edible Oils	37
32	Heavy Electrical Equipment	29
33	Broadcasting & Cable TV	26
34	Tea & Coffee	26
35	Iron & Steel Products	25
36	Electronic Components	25
37	Furniture-Furnishing-Paints	25
38	Healthcare Services	25
39	Agrochemicals	24
40	Transportation – Logistics	24
41	Diversified	22
42	Housing Finance	22
43	Other Food Products	22
44	Fertilizers	22
45	Auto Tyres & Rubber Products	21
46	Aluminium	20
47	Consulting Services	19
48	Commercial Vehicles	18
49	Consumer Electronics	18
50	Breweries & Distilleries	18
51	Holding Companies	17
52	Personal Products	17
53	Internet Software & Services	16
54	Publishing	16
55	Education	15
56	Oil Marketing & Distribution	15
57	BPO/KPO	15
58	Distributors	15
59	Healthcare Facilities	13
60	Department Stores	12
61	Forest Products	12
62	2/3 Wheelers	12
63	Telecom Equipment	12
64	Footwear	11
65	Copper	11
66	Computer Hardware	10
67	Exploration & Production	10
68	Mining	10
69	Roads & Highways	10
70	Shipping	10
71	Surface Transportation	10
72	Biotechnology	10
73	Specialty Retail	10
74	Fibres & Plastics	9
75	Houseware	9
76	Non-Durable Household Prod.	8
77	Other Leisure Facilities	8
78	Household Appliances	8
79	Other Telecom Services	8
80	Transport Related Services	8
81	Utilities:Non-Elec.	8
82	Refineries/ Petro-Products	7
83	Cigarettes-Tobacco Products	7
84	Telecom Services	7
85	Travel Support Services	7
86	Restaurants	7
87	Internet & Catalogue Retail	6
88	Petrochemicals	6
89	Advertising & Media	6
90	Coal	6
91	Sp.Consumer Services	6
92	Airlines	6
93	Comm.Printing/Stationery	6
94	Defence	6
95	Healthcare Supplies	5
96	Household Products	5
97	Industrial Gases	5
98	IT Networking Equipment	5
99	Jute & Jute Products	5
100	Medical Equipment	5
101	Photographic Products	5
102	Construction Materials	5
103	Oil Equipment & Services	5
104	Other Non-Ferrous Metals	5
105	Storage Media & Peripherals	5
106	Telecom Cables	5
107	Life Insurance	4
108	Marine Port & Services	4
109	Non-alcoholic Beverages	4
110	Cars & Utility Vehicles	4
111	Financial Institutions	4
112	Integrated Oil & Gas	4
113	IT Training Services	4
114	Asset Management Cos.	3
115	General Insurance	3
116	Gift Articles-Toys & Cards	3
117	Real Estate Investment	3
118	Zinc	3
119	Aerospace	2
120	Carbon Black	1
121	Food & Drugs Retailing	1
122	Telecom – Alternate Carriers	1

Remarks for industry wise stocks classification

From the table above, you would note that most companies listed on the Bombay stock exchange are from financial services. Total number of stocks/companies from financial services is 636 (Add row 1,4,24,25,42,107,111) which is almost 16% of the active stocks on BSE.

Textiles, Commodity trading & distribution, Pharma & Realty are other industries to which most stocks listed on BSE belong.

Further, you would notice that Telecom – Alternate carriers, Food & Drugs Retailing, Carbon Black, Aerospace & Zinc are the industries having lowest number of listings – 1, 1, 1, 2 & 3 respectively. These are the stocks you can quickly check and figure out any potential investment opportunity. For e.g. in the Carbon Black industry – Phillips carbon black belonging to RP-Sanjeev Goenka group may be a potential investment candidate.

Potential long term stock investment market

As mentioned above, we have 2645 stocks from Group A, B, M & X. Let us have a look at all these groups separately for a deep dive into equity research and understand stocks by industry in India.

Group A – Industry wise breakup of stocks

Group A has around 387 stocks which are actively bought or sold on the stocks market. You may want to check more details about Group A here.

Banks & Pharma are the most active industries on the Bombay Stock Exchange. They are followed by electric utilities, NBFCs & IT stocks.

S.No.	Industry	No. of stocks
1	Banks	33
2	Pharmaceuticals	26
3	Electric Utilities	19
4	Finance (including NBFCs)	16
5	IT Consulting & Software	14
6	Cement & Cement Products	11
7	Realty	10
8	Construction & Engineering	10
9	Textiles	10
10	Housing Finance	9
11	Personal Products	8
12	Other Financial Services	8
13	Heavy Electrical Equipment	8
14	Auto Parts & Equipment	7
15	Holding Companies	7
16	Agrochemicals	7
17	Packaged Foods	6
18	Iron & Steel/Interm.Products	6
19	Commercial Vehicles	6
20	Plastic Products	6
21	Broadcasting & Cable TV	6
22	Department Stores	5
23	Auto Tyres & Rubber Products	5
24	Fertilizers	5
25	Other Apparels & Accessories	5
26	Utilities:Non-Elec.	5
27	Commodity Chemicals	5
28	Specialty Retail	4
29	Furniture-Furnishing-Paints	4
30	Consumer Electronics	4
31	2/3 Wheelers	4
32	Refineries/ Petro-Products	4
33	Oil Marketing & Distribution	4
34	Sugar	4
35	Exploration & Production	3
36	Roads & Highways	3
37	Transportation – Logistics	3
38	IT Software Products	3
39	Tea & Coffee	3
40	Defence	3
41	Other Elect.Equip./ Prod.	3
42	Telecom Services	3
43	Other Industrial Products	3
44	Comm.Trading & Distribution	3
45	Zinc	2
46	Household Appliances	2
47	Cigarettes-Tobacco Products	2
48	Other Industrial Goods	2
49	Aluminium	2
50	Internet Software & Services	2
51	Healthcare Facilities	2
52	Other Telecom Services	2
53	Marine Port & Services	2
54	Airlines	2
55	Shipping	2
56	Cars & Utility Vehicles	2
57	Other Agricultural Products	2
58	BPO/KPO	2
59	Coal	2
60	Hotels	2
61	Transport Related Services	2
62	Publishing	2
63	Breweries & Distilleries	2
64	Mining	2
65	Integrated Oil & Gas	2
66	Telecom – Alternate Carriers	1
67	Containers & Packaging	1
68	Computer Hardware	1
69	Copper	1
70	Industrial Gases	1
71	Petrochemicals	1
72	Consulting Services	1
73	IT Training Services	1
74	Travel Support Services	1
75	Life Insurance	1
76	Footwear	1
77	Biotechnology	1
78	Forest Products	1
79	Financial Institutions	1
80	Telecom Cables	1
81	Misc.Commercial Services	1
82	Other Food Products	1
83	Restaurants	1
84	Investment Companies	1
85	Movies & Entertainment	1
86	Healthcare Services	1
87	Houseware	1
88	Specialty Chemicals	1
89	Internet & Catalogue Retail	1
	Grand Total	387

Group X – Industry wise breakup of stocks

Group X with 1028 stocks, has maximum participation from NBFC, Textiles, Commodity Trading & Realty sector. You should note that these stocks are exclusively listed only on Bombay Stock Exchange.

S.No.	Industry	No. of stocks
1	Finance (including NBFCs)	125
2	Textiles	84
3	Other Financial Services	69
4	Comm.Trading & Distribution	67
5	Realty	45
6	Pharmaceuticals	44
7	Commodity Chemicals	37
8	IT Software Products	37
9	Specialty Chemicals	27
10	Auto Parts & Equipment	26
11	Containers & Packaging	23
12	Plastic Products	22
13	Other Apparels & Accessories	21
14	Iron & Steel/Interm.Products	20
15	Investment Companies	20
16	Other Agricultural Products	18
17	Construction & Engineering	18
18	Paper & Paper Products	16
19	IT Consulting & Software	15
20	Misc.Commercial Services	15
21	Packaged Foods	14
22	Hotels	13
23	Other Industrial Products	13
24	Other Elect.Equip./ Prod.	12
25	Movies & Entertainment	11
26	Other Industrial Goods	10
27	Tea & Coffee	10
28	Edible Oils	9
29	Electronic Components	9
30	Auto Tyres & Rubber Products	9
31	Cement & Cement Products	9
32	Agrochemicals	7
33	Fertilizers	6
34	Healthcare Services	6
35	Housing Finance	6
36	Diversified	5
37	Other Food Products	5
38	Consulting Services	5
39	Internet Software & Services	5
40	Iron & Steel Products	5
41	Sugar	5
42	Aluminium	4
43	Broadcasting & Cable TV	4
44	Forest Products	4
45	Biotechnology	4
46	Telecom Equipment	4
47	Electric Utilities	4
48	Fibres & Plastics	4
49	Healthcare Supplies	3
50	Non-Durable Household Prod.	3
51	Surface Transportation	3
52	Commercial Vehicles	3
53	Personal Products	3
54	BPO/KPO	3
55	Computer Hardware	3
56	Jute & Jute Products	3
57	Real Estate Investment	2
58	Photographic Products	2
59	Mining	2
60	Transportation – Logistics	2
61	Heavy Electrical Equipment	2
62	Oil Marketing & Distribution	2
63	2/3 Wheelers	2
64	Distributors	2
65	Education	2
66	Furniture-Furnishing-Paints	2
67	Copper	2
68	Gift Articles-Toys & Cards	2
69	Oil Equipment & Services	2
70	Marine Port & Services	2
71	Travel Support Services	2
72	Internet & Catalogue Retail	2
73	Houseware	2
74	Aerospace	1
75	Department Stores	1
76	Household Products	1
77	Breweries & Distilleries	1
78	Holding Companies	1
79	Food & Drugs Retailing	1
80	Other Leisure Facilities	1
81	Non-alcoholic Beverages	1
82	Exploration & Production	1
83	Footwear	1
84	IT Training Services	1
85	Consumer Electronics	1
86	Telecom Services	1
87	Cigarettes-Tobacco Products	1
88	Transport Related Services	1
89	Comm.Printing/Stationery	1
90	Other Non-Ferrous Metals	1
91	Sp.Consumer Services	1
92	Defence	1
	Grand Total	1028

Group B – Industry wise breakup of stocks

Group B has around 1050 stocks, which are less actively traded than Group A & X. Most of these stocks belong to textiles, auto parts & construction industry.

S.No.	Industry	No. of stocks
1	Textiles	64
2	Auto Parts & Equipment	56
3	Construction & Engineering	52
4	Realty	44
5	Pharmaceuticals	43
6	Iron & Steel/Interm.Products	39
7	Other Apparels & Accessories	32
8	Specialty Chemicals	32
9	Other Financial Services	28
10	Commodity Chemicals	28
11	Finance (including NBFCs)	24
12	IT Consulting & Software	24
13	Other Elect.Equip./ Prod.	22
14	Cement & Cement Products	20
15	Containers & Packaging	20
16	Paper & Paper Products	19
17	IT Software Products	19
18	Sugar	19
19	Comm.Trading & Distribution	18
20	Hotels	17
21	Packaged Foods	14
22	Heavy Electrical Equipment	13
23	Broadcasting & Cable TV	13
24	Plastic Products	12
25	Electric Utilities	12
26	Diversified	11
27	Furniture-Furnishing-Paints	11
28	Other Industrial Goods	11
29	Investment Companies	11
30	Movies & Entertainment	10
31	Publishing	10
32	Iron & Steel Products	10
33	Transportation – Logistics	10
34	Other Agricultural Products	9
35	Fertilizers	9
36	Other Industrial Products	9
37	Breweries & Distilleries	8
38	Holding Companies	8
39	Agrochemicals	8
40	Banks	8
41	Edible Oils	7
42	BPO/KPO	7
43	Consumer Electronics	7
44	Tea & Coffee	7
45	Footwear	6
46	Healthcare Facilities	6
47	Roads & Highways	6
48	Shipping	6
49	Other Telecom Services	6
50	Forest Products	5
51	Oil Marketing & Distribution	5
52	Healthcare Services	5
53	Department Stores	5
54	Telecom Equipment	5
55	Exploration & Production	4
56	Housing Finance	4
57	Petrochemicals	4
58	Commercial Vehicles	4
59	Comm.Printing/Stationery	4
60	Personal Products	4
61	Non-Durable Household Prod.	4
62	Misc.Commercial Services	4
63	Education	4
64	Auto Tyres & Rubber Products	4
65	Other Leisure Facilities	3
66	Aluminium	3
67	Sp.Consumer Services	3
68	Biotechnology	3
69	Telecom Cables	3
70	Electronic Components	3
71	Other Non-Ferrous Metals	3
72	Internet Software & Services	3
73	Oil Equipment & Services	3
74	Houseware	3
75	Life Insurance	3
76	General Insurance	3
77	Mining	3
78	Restaurants	3
79	Transport Related Services	3
80	Asset Management Cos.	2
81	Storage Media & Peripherals	2
82	Defence	2
83	Airlines	2
84	Surface Transportation	2
85	IT Training Services	2
86	Telecom Services	2
87	Other Food Products	2
88	Specialty Retail	2
89	Refineries/ Petro-Products	2
90	Advertising & Media	2
91	Cars & Utility Vehicles	2
92	Fibres & Plastics	2
93	Medical Equipment	2
94	Construction Materials	2
95	Travel Support Services	2
96	Household Appliances	2
97	Copper	2
98	Utilities:Non-Elec.	2
99	2/3 Wheelers	2
100	Industrial Gases	2
101	Distributors	1
102	Cigarettes-Tobacco Products	1
103	Photographic Products	1
104	Coal	1
105	Financial Institutions	1
106	Aerospace	1
107	Non-alcoholic Beverages	1
108	Carbon Black	1
109	IT Networking Equipment	1
110	Household Products	1
111	(blank)	1
112	Integrated Oil & Gas	1
113	Internet & Catalogue Retail	1
	Grand Total	1050

Group M – Industry wise breakup of stocks

Group M has only 180 stocks which represent SMEs and MSMEs of the Indian market listed on BSE.

S.No.	Industry	No. of stocks
1	Comm.Trading & Distribution	23
2	Other Apparels & Accessories	13
3	Other Financial Services	13
4	Other Agricultural Products	9
5	Realty	7
6	Finance (including NBFCs)	7
7	Textiles	7
8	Movies & Entertainment	6
9	Pharmaceuticals	6
10	Consulting Services	6
11	Containers & Packaging	5
12	Construction & Engineering	5
13	Other Elect.Equip./ Prod.	5
14	Packaged Foods	4
15	Distributors	4
16	IT Consulting & Software	4
17	Iron & Steel Products	4
18	Plastic Products	3
19	Specialty Retail	3
20	Restaurants	3
21	Specialty Chemicals	3
22	Other Industrial Goods	3
23	Healthcare Services	2
24	Aluminium	2
25	Sp.Consumer Services	2
26	Education	2
27	Other Food Products	2
28	Transportation – Logistics	2
29	Other Industrial Products	2
30	Healthcare Facilities	2
31	Construction Materials	1
32	Internet Software & Services	1
33	Travel Support Services	1
34	Healthcare Supplies	1
35	Advertising & Media	1
36	Department Stores	1
37	Furniture-Furnishing-Paints	1
38	Utilities:Non-Elec.	1
39	Electric Utilities	1
40	Diversified	1
41	Auto Parts & Equipment	1
42	Heavy Electrical Equipment	1
43	Iron & Steel/Interm.Products	1
44	Hotels	1
45	IT Software Products	1
46	Houseware	1
47	Misc.Commercial Services	1
48	Other Leisure Facilities	1
49	BPO/KPO	1
50	Internet & Catalogue Retail	1
51	Commercial Vehicles	1
	Grand Total	180

Concluding remarks to understand stocks by industry in India

Using the information in the tables above, you can structure your equity research to figure out your own investment methodology. If you understand stocks by industry in India, you would be able to figure out market dynamics, estimate growth potentials and identify potential investment opportunities in the sunrise sectors.

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