47 Indian firms in Forbes Global 2000 List

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Washington: With $34 billion in sales from its oil and gas operations, Reliance Industries tops 47 Indian companies that figure in the Forbes list of the world's biggest 2,000 companies.

Ranked 121st, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance also makes it to the list of top 200 companies with two other Indian entities, State Bank of India (150) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (152), in the list compiled by the US business magazine.

However, five Indian companies - scam-hit IT firm Satyam, realty firm Unitech, Suzlon Energy and two Anil Ambani group firms - Reliance Power and Reliance Capital - have been dropped from the Forbes 'Global 2000 List' this year.

Four Indian companies - Hero Honda Motors, Sun Pharma, Indian Bank and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd - are the new entrants to the list.

The top 10 Indian companies are: Reliance Industries (121), State Bank of India Group (150) Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (152) Indian Oil Corporation (207) NTPC (317), ICICI Bank (329), Tata Steel (463), Bharti Airtel (508), Steel Authority of India (582) and Reliance Communications (689).

"This year's list reveals the dynamism of global business," Forbes said, noting the rankings span 62 countries, with the US still dominant at 551 members, but 200 fewer than in 2004, when Forbes first published the global list.

This year, China has 91 members, south Korea 61, and India 47. Even Kazakhstan is now a Global 2000 member. Also gaining a significant presence on the Forbes list are corporations from Arab countries: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each have at least 10 entries on this year's list.

In total, the Global 2000 companies now account for $32 trillion in revenues, $1.6 trillion in profits, $125 trillion in assets and $20 trillion in market value.

"The Global 2000 continues to amass revenue and assets, but lately, that has not translated into wealth creation or profits," the magazine said. In the past year, combined profits were down 31 percent while market value was down 49 percent.

Forbes said an analysis of the Global 2000 shows that despite the turmoil in the banking industry, banks still dominate, with 307 companies in the 2000 lineup, thanks in large measure to their asset totals.

The oil and gas industry, with 126 companies, scores high in sales, profits and stock-market value, yet these sectors were not the leaders in growth over the past year.

Drug and biotech companies (up 59 percent) led all sectors in sales growth, while the leaders in profit growth were telecom service firms (up 51 percent).