News: Eight Indian firms in S&P 2007 global list

(DNA 11/05/2007) New Delhi - The upbeat Indian industry has outsmarted the world's fastest growing economy China, with as many as eight domestic firms making it to Standard & Poors' list of challengers to leading global blue-chip companies.

Rating agency S&P has included eight Indian companies in its annual 'Global Challengers List' of 300 firms, while only four Chinese firms were included in the list.

The list identifies mid-size publicly traded firms that exhibit the strongest growth characteristics. The 2007 list includes companies from 37 countries.

It includes cement maker ACC, Hotel Leela Venture, Jain Irrigation, Lakshmi Machine Works, Marico, Siemens India, besides Tata Group's Titan Industries and Indian Hotels.

"In the Darwinian sense, mid-caps are truly positioned in an evolutionary sweet spot, having survived beyond their start-up phases and offering stability as well as rapid growth opportunities in the future," S&P index strategist Srikant Dash said.

The country contributing the most members is Japan with 62 firms, followed by the United States (58) and UK (19).

Regionally, America represents 22.67 per cent of the list's composition, followed by Asia/Pacific (41.67 per cent), Europe (33.33 per cent) and Middle East/Africa (2.33 per cent).

The sector representation within the 2007 list is lead by industrials, followed by financial and consumer discretionary.

Industrial companies account for 26.67 per cent of the 2007 list, while financial services firms 17 per cent, consumer discretionary (13.67 per cent), energy (12.33 per cent) and IT (10.67 per cent), the S&P report shows.

In 2006 list, financials and consumer discretionary had contributed the most.

"Mid-cap firms can be thought of as having overcome the growing pains of small firms and are thus a lot less risky than small-cap start-ups. The class of 2007 offers the best potential pool of companies that could become tomorrow's leaders," Dash said.

Meanwhile, the S&P report also cautioned against the reporting irregularities by companies, which in rare cases have been found to be fraudulent by regulator.