India's petrochemical giant Reliance Industries among world's top: WSJ, Forbes

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Petrochemical giant Reliance Industries Ltd, or RIL for short, is the only Indian company to feature in the annual list of world's 100 most respected companies compiled by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Though placed lower on the list, RIL (83rd) is ranked ahead of well-known corporate giants like Citigroup (US), American International Group or AIG (US), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (Japan), Suez (France), France Telecom (France), BNP Paribas (France), British American Tobacco (UK), Cnooc (China), China Construction Bank (China), Rosneft (Russia), Lukoil Holdings (Russia), and Gazprom (Russia).

The list is headed by US-based healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson. The other companies in the top ten list are Procter & Gamble (2nd), Toyota (3rd), Berkshire Hathaway (4th), Apple (5th), Google (6th), Wal-Mart (7th), Coca-Cola (8th), PepsiCo (9th) and Nestle (10th).

Interestingly, three companies run by Indians viz. PepsiCo, ArcelorMittal and Citigroup feature in the list.

In compiling the list, WSJ had asked money managers to indicate the degree to which they do or do not respect the 100 largest publicly traded companies, as measured by total market value.

RIL also features in another list, that of Forbes' 50 best listed companies in the Asia-Pacific region. Forbes, which looked at "long-term profitability, sales and earnings growth, stock price appreciation and projected earnings for every company in the region with revenues or market capitalization of at least $5 billion," said RIL "is India's largest private-sector company, accounting for 3 percent of the nation's GDP and 13 percent of its exports."

Other Indian companies making the cut are Infosys Technologies, ITC, Wipro, BHEL, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC and Tata Steel.

And, back home, RIL has earned the distinction of being India's largest corporate enterprise in terms of market capitalization (market cap). As on September 5, RIL's market cap stood at a whopping Rs.3,02,000 crore (about $75 billion).

In terms of market cap, the top five Indian companies are Reliance Industries (Rs.3,02,000 crore), ONGC (Rs.2,29,000 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs.1,52,000 crore), NTPC (Rs.1,43,000 crore) and MMTC (Rs.1,19,000 crore).

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