8 Indian Companies in the Fortune 500 list for 2012

8 Indian companies found their way to into the latest edition of Fortune magazine’s list of top 500 companies globally. In 2012, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Reliance Industries (RIL), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum (HP), State Bank of India (SBI), Tata Motors, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Tata Steel made it to the list, as they did in 2011.

Globally, the list was topped by Royal Dutch Shell, commonly known to us as just Shell, the oil and gas powerhouse. Exxon Mobil, another oil and gas corporation took second place while retailer Wal-Mart Stores took third place after taking the coveted first spot in 2010 and 2011.

Indian Fortune 500 Companies

Company	Ranking in 2012	Ranking in 2011	Annual Revenue (In USD millions)
Indian Oil Corporation	83	98	86,016
Reliance Industries	99	134	76,119
Bharat Petroleum	225	272	44,582
Hindustan Petroleum	267	336	38,885
State Bank of India	285	292	36,950
Tata Motors	314	359	34,575
ONGC	357	361	30,746
Tata Steel	401	370	27,739

State owned IOC was the highest ranking Indian company in the Fortune 500 global list at 83^rd position with annual revenues topping $86,016 million. Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries came in second with $76,119 million in annual revenues.

State owned oil and gas companies BPCL and HP were ranked 225^th and 267^th respectively. SBI ranked 285^th with $36,950 million, Tata Motors 314^th with $34,575 million, ONGC 357^th with $30,746 and Tata Steel tail ended at 401^st spot with $27,739 million in revenues.

Noticeably, all the Indian companies in the Fortune 500 list have improved their rankings in 2012 as compared to 2011 except Tata Steel which has fallen more than 30 places.

US emerged as the country with highest number of companies in the Fortune 500 list with 132 global powerhouses. China nudged Japan to take second place with 73 companies while the latter had 68. In fact, 5^th, 6^th and 7^th spot in the global rankings were taken by Chinese state owned oil and gas conglomerate Sinopec Group, China National Petroleum and electric utilities company State Grid Corporation of China respectively.

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India Inc’s presence in the Fortune 500 is also dominated by oil and gas companies. While Reliance Industries has multiple business segments, oil and gas and petrochemicals remain a mainstay. SBI is the highest ranking non oil and gas Indian company. Yet, its annual revenues of $36,950 million are less than half of IOC’s staggering $86,106 million!

Even globally, 8 out of the top 10 are either oil and gas or energy companies.

How does the common man feel about petroleum companies amassing staggering revenues while being hit with one fuel price rise after another? When will India Inc be able to stand up in its own right against Asian and global super power China? When will an Indian company break into the top 10? When will the world significantly reduce dependence on traditional fossil fuels? And if that eventually happens, will it be these same oil and gas corporations diversifying their acts into other energy sources like solar power, wind and tidal energy, etc?

What do our readers think about all this?