INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - FEBRUARY 1^st - FEBRUARY 15^th - 2008

ARCELORMITTAL, CITI, PEPSI, VODAFONE, LOSE $60B IN MARKET CAP

Companies led by the four most prominent Indian faces in World Inc — Lakshmi Mittal, Vikram Pandit, Arun Sarin and Indra Nooyi — have been battered in the ongoing global stock market turmoil, with collective losses to the extent of over $60 billion in 2008 so far.

The companies run by these four are leaders in their respective industries. Mittalled ArcelorMittal is the largest steel maker worldwide, Pandit-run Citigroup is the world’s biggest lender, Sarinheaded Vodafone is Europe’s largest mobile firm and Nooyi led PepsiCo figures among the top two soft drink firms.

Collectively, total market value of Citigroup, PepsiCo, ArcelorMittal and Vodafone has dropped to $515.1 billion from $575.6 billion at the end of 2007. The latest figures are based on their share prices on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where all the four are listed, as of February 8, the last trading day.

Interestingly, the cumulative loss of the four global giants is equivalent to an amount that is more than half the loss suffered by all the Indian companies in the same period. The total market value of over 4,000 Indian companies has dropped by close to $110 billion so far in 2008.

Among the four, PepsiCo has seen its market cap plunging by $9.8 billion, Vodafone by $18.7 billion, ArcelorMittal by about $15 billion and Citigroup by close to $17 billion in 2008.

In percentage terms, the loss was close to 14% for ArcelorMittal, 11.6% for Citigroup, 9.4% for Vodafone and 8% for PepsiCo.