IOC tops Fortune India 500 list
New Delhi   13-Dec-2011

State-run IndianOil has emerged as the country’s biggest company in terms of annual revenue, followed by Mukesh Ambani-led private sector giant Reliance Industries at the second place, as per an annual list of Fortune 500 companies in India.

This year’s list of the country’s 500 largest corporations, compiled by the global business magazine Fortune’s Indian edition, features as many as 57 new entities.

All the 500 firms together recorded a collective turnover of Rs 45,79,911.38 crore in the latest financial year.

IndianOil (IOC) was the biggest with annual revenue of Rs 3,23,113.12 crore, followed by Reliance Industries (RIL) with a full-year revenue of Rs 2,72,923.36 crore.

Both IOC and RIL have retained their top-two ranks from the previous year, Fortune India said.

In this year’s list, the two are followed by Bharat Petroleum (Rs 1,56,580.12 crore) at the third and State Bank of India (Rs 1,47,843.92 crore) at the fourth place.

Other entities in the list are Hindustan Petroleum (5th rank), Tata Motors (6), Oil & Natural Gas Corp (7), Tata Steel (8), Hindalco Industries (9) and Coal India (10).

There are as many as six state-run companies in the top-ten positions, as against four from the private sector.

The magazine said that the total sales of the country’s 500 top corporations have grown by 21.5 per cent from the last year, while their median growth has been even higher at about 25 per cent.

“The good news, however, is that many of the Fortune India 500 companies are now beginning to shape the world’s opinion of India for the better. And they may just be doing a better job than their Chinese counterparts,” it added.

However, Fortune India said, some hint of impendingtrouble can be seen in profit growth, which has fallen from 27.1 per cent last year to 21.6 per cent this year.

“For most of the Fortune India 500 companies, erosion in profitability has been severe. This is evident from a low 6.4 per cent profit growth for a median-sized Fortune India 500 company. “These could be early signals of a deterioration in financial ratios, with all sizes of companies reporting a slower growth in their networth and asset creation,” Fortune India said about the list.

Companies have been ranked by their latest annual audited total income for the financial year ending on or before June 30, 2011.

For the ranking, audited results declared before October 31, 2011, have been used.

Other companies in the list include ICICI Bank (12th spot), Bharti Airtel (13), Essar Oil (15), Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (17), Infosys (27), Reliance Communications (35) and Tata Power (40).