Sensex pivotal Hindustan Lever is out of the top five rankings by market capitalisation.

HLL has been the worst hit FMCG stock with its market cap dropping by Rs 10,742 crore (Rs 107.42 billion): from Rs 42,439 crore (Rs 424.39 billion) on February 17 to Rs 31,697 crore (Rs 316.97 billion) on March 17 as its share price declined a whopping 25.3 per cent from Rs 192.80 to Rs 144 over the same period.

As a result, HLL's rank in the market capitalisation table has dropped from four to six.

Among sectors, the FMCG sector has seen the highest erosion of Rs 12,712.25 crore (Rs 1,271.225 billion) in market capitalisation in the last one month. The sector's market cap fell from Rs 55,904.82 crore (Rs 5,590.482 billion) on February 17 to Rs 43,192.57 crore (Rs 4,319.257 billion) on March 17.

During the same period, the Bombay Stock Exchange's FMCG index lost 13.81 per cent from 1,080.98 to 931.68. in comparison, the benchmark Sensex lost only 8.29 per cent.

Nirma was the second biggest loser in the FMCG sector. Nirma's market worth dropped by Rs 775.54 crore (Rs 7.755 billion) from Rs 3,316 crore (Rs 33.16 billion) to Rs 2,540 crore (Rs 25.40 billion) as its stock price fell 23.4 per cent from Rs 417.70 to Rs 320.

Dabur ranked third among the losers with Rs 358 crore (Rs 3.58 billion) after its market cap fell from Rs 2,421 crore (Rs 24.21 billion) to Rs 2,063 crore (Rs 20.63 billion), reflecting a share price drop from Rs 84.60 to Rs 72.09.

Gillette India was ranked fourth with Rs 260 crore (Rs 2.60 billion) market cap loss, followed by Colgate-Palmolive (Rs 242 crore -- Rs 2.42 billion), Proctor & Gamble (Rs 240 crore -- Rs 2.40 billion), Godrej Consumer Products (Rs 101 crore -- Rs 1.01 billion) and Henkel Spic India (Rs 75 crore -- Rs 750 million).

During the period, only two companies from the FMCG sector emerged as the gainers in terms of market cap.

While Fem Care Pharma reported a Rs 140 crore (Rs 1.40 billion) gain, Shri Niranjan Ayurved Bhawan reported a rise of Rs 32 crore (Rs 320 million).