News: Thirty-three Indian companies in Forbes 2000

(PTI 31/03/2006) New York: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation leads the pack of 33 Indian companies, mostly in banking and software sectors, which have found place on Forbes magazine’s coveted list of top 2,000 corporate titans across the world.

HDFC Bank, Industrial Development Bank of India, National Aluminum, Bajaj Auto and UCO Bank joined the list which shows that 17 Indian companies gained in rank but 11, mostly in banking sector, lost ground compared with last year’s list.

ONGC is at 256th position among the 2,000 and is followed by Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Indian Oil, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Steel Authority of India, Bharat Petroleum, Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy services and ITC to claim the top ten spots for India.

Infosys Technologies, Hindustan Petroleum, HDFC, Tata Motors, Wipro, Punjab National Bank, GAIL, Canara Bank, Bharti Tele Ventures, Larsen and Toubro, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Hindalco Industries and Indian Overseas Bank are among others who make the grade.

Citigroup topped the list followed by General Electric, Bank of America, American International Group, HSBC group, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, BP, JPMorgan Chase and UBS.

More than 50 companies based in China and Hong Kong and two Pakistani companies, also find place among the 2,000.

The global giants, ranked on a composite score for sales, profits, assets and market value, had a good year. Combined, they show a 10 per cent gain in sales, 32 per cent in profits, 10 per cent in assets and 17 per cent in market capitalisation over last year.