Hyderabad: The market capitalisation of Hyderabad-based pharma companies is scaling new highs. Laurus Labs crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore MCAP mark intraday for the first time on Wednesday after its stock touched an all-time high of Rs 1,859.Driven by a 115% surge in its stock price over the past year, Laurus has now overtaken some of India’s biggest pharma giants such as Dr Reddy’s Labs and Aurobindo Pharma to become India’s eighth most valued pharmaceutical company by MCAP.This comes even as Divi’s Laboratories, another Hyderabad-based pharma major, has crossed the Rs 2 lakh crore MCAP mark to reach Rs 2.2 lakh crore on Wednesday, based on its closing price of Rs 8,350, making it the second most valued Indian pharma stock after Sun Pharma that has an MCAP of over Rs 4.67 lakh crore.Other Hyderabad-based pharma companies like Dr Reddy’s (Rs 97,994 crore) and Aurobindo (Rs 93,706 crore) are also moving closer to the Rs 1 lakh crore MCAP mark with Aurobindo nearing the milestone for the first time while for Dr Reddy’s it would be the second instance after mid-2024.Market analysts said pharma companies are seeing their market value climb to record levels as a rally in stocks lifts investor appetite for firms with growth visibility in custom synthesis, peptides and contract manufacturing.Shrikant Akolkar, director of research at Nuvama, said stocks of companies such as Divi’s and Laurus are being driven by expectations from peptide and innovation-led projects, aided by CDMO opportunities and the tailwinds due to the US Biosecure Act that is pushing new projects to India.Market veteran BL Vasudevan said after a nearly two-year bear phase caused by geopolitical tensions sparked by Donald Trump’s tariff announcements as well as the US-Israel-Iran war, FIIs are now flocking back to India to invest.
