Zomato Becomes First New-Age Tech Stock To Feature In BSE Sensex

Stock exchange BSE will add foodtech major Zomato to its flagship BSE Sensex, replacing JSW Steel, from December 23.

With this, Zomato will become the first new-age tech startup to feature in the benchmark index.

Sensex serves as both a benchmark and an investable index. It comprises 30 large, well-established, “financially sound companies” across key sectors. It is the oldest index in the country. 

The addition to Sensex will likely bring fund inflows into the stock as passive funds which track the index will allocate capital to the stock. 

With the addition, Zomato will join the ranks of companies like Reliance Industries, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, among others. 

Meanwhile, the BSE, in a notification, also said that PB Fintech would be added to BSE Sensex Next 50 and BSE 100. Zomato, along with Jio Financial Services, will also be added to the BSE Sensex 50 index. 

All of these changes will come into effect from December 23, the exchange said.

Earlier this month, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) added Zomato to the futures and options (F&O) stocks list. Other new-age tech stocks like Delhivery, Jio Financial Services, Paytm, Nykaa and PB Fintech were also added to the segment.

The development comes at a time when Zomato is seeing strong growth in its top and bottom lines. The company reported a net profit of INR 176 Cr in the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal year (Q2 FY25), up over 4X from the INR 36 Cr in the year-ago period. 

Operating revenue also zoomed 68.5% to INR 4,799 Cr during the quarter from INR 2,848 Cr in Q2 FY24.

Amid these, the company acquired the entertainment ticketing business of Paytm for INR 2,048 Cr earlier this year in order to further shore up its revenue.

However, this resulted in the company’s cash reserves declining to INR 1,726 Cr at the end of September 2024 quarter. To further strengthen its balance sheet, Zomato is looking to raise INR 8,500 Cr via qualified institutional placement (QIP) in December.

A part of the freshly raised capital is likely to be used for scaling up the ‘going out’ or District vertical and expanding the presence of Blinkit amid the rising competition in the quick commerce segment.

Shares of Zomato ended Friday’s (November 22) trading session 0.97% lower at INR 264.15 on the BSE. The stock has given 130% return year to date.

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