1. INTRODUCTION
Ashok Leyland, the flagship company of the Hinduja Group, is a leading name in the global commercial vehicle industry, ranking second in India and nineteenth worldwide in truck manufacturing, as well as fourth in bus manufacturing globally. Headquartered in Chennai, the company has a strong international presence with manufacturing facilities across India, the UAE, and the UK, as well as strategic joint ventures in automotive components. Ashok Leyland has a well-diversified portfolio covering trucks, buses, defense vehicles, power solutions, and advanced automotive technologies. Renowned for innovation, it is a pioneer in clean and BS-compliant engine technologies, including SCR, iEGR, CNG, and OBD-II-certified systems, and holds multiple global quality and information security certifications, such as ISO/TS 16949 and ISO 27001:2022. The company is also a two-time Deming Prize winner, reflecting excellence in manufacturing and process management. Supported by one of the largest service networks in the commercial vehicle industry, with over 52,000 touchpoints, Ashok Leyland ensures superior customer service through its “Quick Response” promise, reinforcing its strong brand position among India’s top companies.
2. OBJECTIVE
• To calculate the β of Ashok Leyland Pvt Ltd. and observe its significance.
3. DATA COLLECTION
• Historical price data for Ashok Leyland and the NIFTY50 index were sourced from the NSE website for the period 01 December 2024 to 30 November 2025.
• Weekly returns were calculated to analyze performance trends.
• The processed data was structured in spreadsheet format to support further statistical and graphical analysis.
4. LITERATURE REVIEW
• Sharpe (1964) explains through the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) that stock returns are directly influenced by market returns, with beta (β) measuring systematic risk. A statistically significant beta indicates that the stock is sensitive to market movements, supporting the use of market indices like NIFTY to explain individual stock returns.
• Bodie, Kane, and Marcus (2018) note that single-factor market models often produce low R² values, as firm-specific and macroeconomic factors also affect stock returns. However, a significant market coefficient confirms that market returns remain an important determinant of individual stock performance.
5. DATA ANALYSIS
• Regression Equation: –
y = 1.5354x – 0.5191
where: –
y = Weekly Return for Ashok Leyland Ltd.
x = Weekly Return for NIFTY
This equation tells us that if the weekly returns of NIFTY increase, then the weekly return for Ashok Leyland Ltd also increases.
• Number of Observations = 48
• t-stat for β = 2.434520613
• P-value = 0.01764702: – Since the p-value (0.0176) is less than 0.05, the slope coefficient is statistically significant at the 1% level.
• R² = 0.116380375: – The R² value of 0.1164 implies that approximately 11.64% of the variation in Ashok Leyland’s weekly returns is explained by movements in the NIFTY 50.The remaining 88.36% of variation is due to other variables, which are not included in the model.
• F = 5.926890614: -The F-statistic value confirms that the regression model is overall statistically significant.
6. CONCLUSION
• The β value is 1.5354, which shows that the stock is more sensitive to market movements than the market itself.
7. REFERENCES
• Sharpe, W. F. (1964). Capital Asset Prices: A Theory of Market Equilibrium under Conditions of Risk. The Journal of Finance, 19(3), 425–442.
• Bodie, Z., Kane, A., & Marcus, A. J. (2018). Investments (11th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.