Indian IT companies, whose spectacular growth have made many of them household names, have failed to make it to the global list of 100 fastest-growing tech companies prepared by Business 2.0.
Country's second largest software exporter Infosys Technologies, which was ranked eighth in last year's list, was surprisingly absent from this year's rankings. Infosys was the only Indian company in the list in 2005.
Infosys had skyrocketted to the eighth position last year ahead of global IT majors like Apple Computer, eBay Inc and Cognizant Technologies, registering a big leap over its 59th rank in 2004.
In contrast, two Chinese companies - Sohu.com and Sina - have entered the list of 100 fastest growing technology companies this year at 32nd and 52nd positions, respectively.
Nam Tai Electronics was the single Chinese entry in the list in 2005, but it has lost out its position this year.
The CNN-Time Warner group magazine has published this year's ranking, dubbed as B2 100 list, in its latest issue for the month of June, which will hit the newsstands on May 29.
The magazine had said in its June 2005 issue that Infosys earned its eighth position for its unique strategy of beating global incumbents on their own turf.
Even as the global consulting giants like Accenture and IBM began eating into Infosys's business by hiring programmers and call-centre executives in India, Infosys fought back turbo-charging its sales by opening a consultancy of its own in the US and staffing it with homegrown MBAs, the magazine had said.
Infosys was ranked second last year in the sub-list of companies focussed on business services sector, thanks to a 43.1 per cent growth in revenue and 86.7 per cent stock return. Infosys was ranked at seventh position in the stock-return list.
There are 19 companies focussed on the business services sector present in this year's list, as compared to 14 companies a year ago.
US-based biotechnology firm Celgene Corp tops this year's annual list of businesses, whose inventiveness and quick reflexes are helping them set the pace for economy, followed by Red Hat, Apple Computer, SanDisk and ValueClick, Business 2.0 said on Thursday while releasing the 2006 ranking.
Biotech companies have dominated this year's list with as many as 40 entries, up from 29 a year ago.
The magazine said the share prices of the B2 100 companies posted an average jump of 38 per cent on the Wall Street in 2005.
Business 2.0 selects 100 fastest-growing companies from more than 2,000 companies that have been publicly trading on a US-based exchange for at least three years, have a market capitalisation of at least $50 million and have had a positive operating cash flow over the past one year.
Zacks Investment Research of Chicago ranked the list using four financial criteria - revenue growth, profit, operating cash flow during the past three years, and 12-month stock return as of December 31, 2005, the magazine said.
Cash flow growth accounts for 40 per cent of a company's ranking, while each other criteria accounts for 20 per cent.
Besides Infosys, Wipro, Satyam Computer and PCS are other Indian IT firms that are listed in the US.Want to discuss computer software? Join the Computer software Discussion Group
