India moves forward in Fortune list
Mumbai, July 11: Eight Indian companies figure amongst the world’s largest corporations. The latest listing of the world’s 500 largest firms, compiled by US-based Fortune magazine, has eight Indian names. Government-owned Indian Oil is the top Indian name on the list, followed by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.
There has been a gradual influx of more and more Indian names in the global big league over the past few years. In 2003, just one Indian firm — Indian Oil Corporation, figured amongst the world’s largest firms. This year, there is one additional name from India — Tata Motors, compared to the 2009 listing. Tata Motors has seen its turnover shoot up after the acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover in early 2008. There is one other name from the Tata Group — Tata Steel, which also owes its presence on the list to its takeover of UK-based Corus. The remaining names on the list are all public sector firms, all from the oil and gas sector except for the State Bank of India.
This year, the world’s top firm is American retailer Wal Mart, with an annual turnover of $408 billion, up from the third spot in 2009. Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil — both oil firms, occupy the second and third slots. These three companies have been occupying the top-3 slots for the past several years. Amongst the Indian firms, IOC is on the 125th spot with $54 bn in turnover while RIL is on the 175th place. Two Chinese firms – Sinopec and CNPC, both oil companies, feature in the top 10 places.
The US dominates the listing, with 139 names – the largest number of companies from any single country. However, the number of American firms on the list has gradually been coming down as developing countries such as China and India grow. A total of 46 firms from China have also made it to the listing — again, most of them are from the public sector.
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