By IANS
Mumbai : Five Indian companies, including Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Reliance Industries, have improved their rankings in the Fortune Global 500 list this year, giving India Inc much to cheer about.
Three other incumbents – Bharat Petroleum, (BPCL) Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and Oil and Natural gas Corp (ONGC) – have also improved their position, climbing higher on the ranking ladder.
Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance, which is the only private sector company on the list, also figured as among the 25 fastest climbers – improving its position by 73 ranks from 342nd in 2006 to 296th position in 2007 – with a ranking of 23.
State-run IOC continued to maintain its position as the highest ranked Indian firm on the 500 top corporates worldwide, gaining 48 positions compared to 17 last year.
Reliance holds the 269th position in terms of sales, 179th in profits, 299th in term of assets and it 190th in shareholder equity as it features as the 350 largest company among the top 500 corporates.
IOC, on the other hand, is ranked 135th in terms of sales, 249th in profits and 380th in terms of assets. It is the 364th largest company in the world.
Meanwhile, BPCL moved up 43 position to the 325th rank while HPCL was placed 336th, up 32 position, and ONGC gained 32 position to be ranked 369th.
State-run State Bank of India which made its debut on the top global companies list last year, moved up three positions to 485th.
The US-based retail giant Wal-Mart tops the list, nudging aside last year's topper energy major Exxon Mobil to the second spot, a Fortune Global 500 statement said of the list which would be published in the August issue of the magazine.