A significant portion of BSE 100 companies have struggled to deliver robust annual returns over the past three years, with 23 companies failing to generate meaningful annualised returns according to The Economic Times Intelligence Group. The number narrows to 21 companies on a five-year basis, with these underperformers yielding 5% or less return over the specified periods. The BSE 100 delivered annualised returns of 9.3% over three years and 9.8% over five years, while the Sensex generated annualised returns of 6.3% and 8.2%, respectively.
The underperforming companies are concentrated across specific sectors, with consumer sector leading at six companies, followed by five companies each from IT and BFSI sectors as reported by The Economic Times. Notably, 20 of the 23 stocks trade below their three-year average multiples, indicating potential value opportunities despite their poor recent performance. Among the notable names are Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, HDFC Life Insurance, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Infosys, ITC, Reliance Industries (RIL), Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro, with 12 of these companies being constituents of the Nifty 50.
The BFSI sector outlook is based on deposit and credit growth, margin stability after rate cuts, and improving asset quality according to The Economic Times. For FMCG companies, growth depends on demand sustainability especially in the rural market. Havells India expects stronger FY27 growth aided by favourable base, price increases and market share gains after a challenging FY26 due to weak summer season, commodity inflation, and West Asia disruptions. Avenue Supermarts growth is expected to be strong driven by continued store additions and better same-store sales growth.
IT companies face challenges including cautious client spending and AI-led pricing and margin pressure, with analysts expecting Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys to fare better than peers in the near term. Reliance Industries growth is expected to be driven by its consumer and emerging energy businesses, with Jio monetisation, retail expansion, FMCG scale-up and new-energy initiatives as reported by The Economic Times. For ITC, the growth outlook is muted given the higher cigarette tax may impact volume.
