Reliance Industries (RIL), the oil-to-telecom conglomerate has emerged as the largest wealth creator, over 2016-21, for the third time in succession, domestic investment firm Motilal Oswal said in its 26th annual wealth creation study. The company has created Rs 9.7 lakh crore, by far the highest ever. With this, RIL has broken its previous record of creating wealth to the tune of Rs 5.6 lakh crores in 2014-19.

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The study analysed the top 100 wealth-creating companies during 2016-21 and found that over Rs 71 lakh crores were created during this period. This is the highest quantum of wealth ever created. In fact, the pace of growth of wealth outpaced that of Sensex. While the headline index Sensex grew at a rate of 14 percent, wealth creation was at 24 percent.

"This reinforces the point that wealth creation happens in all kinds of market conditions. So, investors are better off focusing on which stocks to invest in, rather than timing the markets," the report said.

Meanwhile, wealth to the tune of Rs 11 lakh crore was destroyed during 2016-21. This is 15 percent of the total wealth created by these 100 companies. The financial sector remained the top wealth-creating and destroying sector.

While private sector banks and NBFCs helped financials accumulate wealth, the public sector banks helped destroy it. In fact, according to the report, PSUs are 5 out of the top 10 wealth-destroying companies.

Only two of the PSUs — Gujarat Gas and Indraprastha Gas — feature in the top 100 wealth creators and the wealth created by them is less than 1 percent of the total.

Other key takeaways of Motilal Oswal Wealth Creation report

Adani Transmission is the fastest wealth creator with a growth rate of 93 percent.

Adani Enterprises emerged as the most consistent wealth creator. It is also the third-fastest wealth creator with a CAGR of 86 percent.

Rs 1 million invested equally in 2016 in the top 10 fastest wealth creators would have grown to Rs 17 million in 2021, the report said. The return is 77 percent, as compared to 14 percent for Sensex.

Disclosure: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)