The market capitalisation of eight out of India’s ten largest companies declined by ₹2.04 lakh crore in last week’s trading, with Reliance Industries emerging as the biggest loser. The country’s most valuable company, Reliance Industries, saw its market cap drop by ₹67,527 crore to ₹16.47 lakh crore. Other major firms, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank, ITC, and Infosys, also witnessed a decline in their valuations. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank registered gains. Bharti Airtel's market capitalisation rose by ₹22,426 crore to ₹9.79 lakh crore, while ICICI Bank added ₹1,183 crore, taking its valuation to ₹8.89 lakh crore. Sensex fell by 2,644 points in the past 8 trading days The domestic equity market ended in the red on Friday, February 14, marking the eighth consecutive session of losses. The BSE Sensex declined 199 points, closing at 75,939, while the NSE Nifty fell 102 points to settle at 22,929. The BSE Smallcap index also witnessed a steep drop of 1,522 points, ending at 45,411. Among the 30 Sensex stocks, 25 closed in the red, while 5 advanced. Similarly, in the Nifty 50 index, 41 stocks declined, and 9 gained. The media sector in the NSE sectoral index recorded the sharpest decline of 3.40%, reflecting broader market weakness. The downward trend continued for the eighth straight session, with the Sensex losing 2,644.6 points (3.36%) and the Nifty shedding 810 points (3.41%) over the past eight trading days. What is Market Capitalisation? Market cap is the value of a company's total outstanding shares, which are all the shares currently held by its shareholders. It is calculated by multiplying the total number of shares issued by the company by the stock price. Market cap is used to categorise companies' shares to help investors choose them according to their risk profile, such as large cap, mid cap, and small cap companies. Market Cap = (Number of Outstanding Shares) x (Price of Shares) How is Market Cap used? Whether a company will profit from its shares or not is estimated by looking at several factors. One of these factors is market cap. Investors can determine how large a company is by looking at its market cap. The higher the company's market cap, the better the company is considered. Stock prices rise and fall according to demand and supply. Therefore, market cap is the public perceived value of that company. How does market cap increase or decrease? It is clear from the formula of market cap that it is derived by multiplying the total number of shares issued by the company by the stock price. That is, if the share price increases, the market cap will also increase, and if the share price decreases, the market cap will also decrease.Original Article