RIL, BHEL, Bajaj among Forbes' 'Fab 50'

Bajaj Auto, BHEL, Infosys, ITC and RIL are among the 12 listed Indian companies which have figured in the latest list of 'Fabulous 50' of prestigious international magazine Forbes Asia.

This is the second annual 'Fabulous 50' list, the best of Asia-Pacific's publicly-traded companies with revenues or market capitalisation of at least $5 billion.

Other Indian companies among the Fabulous 50 are ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, L&T, Satyam Computer, Sterlite Industries, Tata Motors and Wipro.

India has been represented by the maximum number of companies followed by Japan with nine and South Korea and Taiwan with six companies each and China and Australia with five each.

Bajaj Auto has regained momentum in the battle of two-wheelers with its main competitor Hero Honda, Forbes said, adding, "Last year, Bajaj made $238 million on sales of $1.9 billion, ensuring a spot on Forbes Asia's Fab 50 companies list."

BHEL's heavy order book for its turbines, boilers, valves and pumps are up six-fold over last year as the government pushes to increase industrial capacity and improve infrastructure.

BHEL with a market value of $11.835 billion remains a favourite with overseas fund managers, says Forbes.

According to Forbes, every name in the list of 'Fab 50' had to meet a gamut of statistical measurements -- long-term profitability, sales and earnings growth plus projected earnings and stock price gains.

Most of the 12 companies listed in the Fab 50 have gained substantially on the bourses over the last year.

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Limited ensured its spot in the list for its market value at $33.258 million.

"Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani doesn't do anything in a small way. Ambani is one of India's richest men. He is building the world's largest refinery in India and has announced plans for a new Reliance company to build a farm-to-fork distribution system for agricultural goods in India," the magazine said.

L&T, India's largest construction and engineering firm, builds everything from oil and gas platforms to stadiums and its shares have gone up by 80 per cent in the last 12 months.

L&T is also building a part of India's $6 billion Golden Quadrilateral highway linking the national capital New Delhi capital with Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

Some of the leading and well-known MNCs are Australian mineral and metal company BHP Billiton, China Mobile of China, South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine, Hyundai Mobis and LG corporation.

Nidec (capital goods), Nitto Denko (chemicals)Konika Minolta (household and personal products), Toyota Tsusho (trading companies) and Yahoo Japan (software and services) are among the leading Japanese companies for registering their names in the 'Fabulous 50.'