Relative Valuation
In this paper we studied the sectoral behavior of Indian capital market through relative valuation for a period over a period of 21 years. The period covered under the study is from 1990–2010. The study has been done both for a total period (1990–2010) and three sub-periods, viz. 1990–96, 1997–2003, 2004–10. The research finds that price multiple distributions tend to be non-normal prior to 2003. On post-2003 basis these sample distributions are approximately normal, thereby implying that mean and standard deviations are relevant descriptive statistic measures in the Indian context, for a more recent period. The study also finds that we cannot judge all the sectors by classifying them with single high or low price multiples. Different sectors tend to have different high and low multiples which stand true both for total period as well as for sub-periods.