Reliance top-ranked Indian firm on Forbes Global 2000 list

Reliance on top of Indian firms’ list is followed by SBI at No. 105, HDFC Bank at No. 153 & ICICI Bank at No. 204

NEW DELHI: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd climbed two spots to No. 53 on Forbes’ latest Global 2000 list of public companies worldwide.

Forbes Global 2000 ranks the largest companies in the world using four metrics: sales, profits, assets and market value, Forbes said releasing the 2022 ranking of the world’s top 2,000 companies.

Reliance is the top-ranked Indian firm on the list, followed by State Bank of India at No. 105, HDFC Bank at No. 153 and ICICI Bank at No. 204.

Other top 10 Indian firms on the list include state-owned

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) at 228 rank, Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd (HDFC) at No. 268, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) at No.357, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) at No. 384, Tata Steel at No. 407 and Axis Bank at No. 431.

“Energy and banking sector corporations were among the highest-ranking Indian companies in Forbes’ Global 2000 list of public companies this year,” the publication said.

Oil-to-telecom-to-retail conglomerate Reliance, which recorded sales of $104.6 billion between April 2021 and March 2022, became the first Indian company to generate over $100 billion in annual revenue.

“On the Global 2000, Reliance climbed two spots to No. 53 among all public companies worldwide and ranked first among Indian companies,” it said. “Earlier this year, Forbes estimated Ambani’s net worth to be $90.7 billion, landing him at No. 10 on this year’s billionaires list.”

Mukesh’s father Dhirubhai launched the business in the early 1960s, starting with import and export licences for nylon, rayon and polyester. Today, the company’s businesses include plastics and petrochemicals, mobile telecom services and retail.

With a market cap of $56.12 billion, SBI grabbed the No. 2 spot on the list of India’s largest. “The bank, headquartered in Mumbai, has 24,000 branches and 62,617 ATMs across the country. Private sector banks ICICI and HDFC followed next on the Global 2000 list of Indian companies, highlighting the growth of the banking sector in India.”

Some notable newcomers to the list include billionaire Gautam Adani’s companies: Adani Enterprises Limited, Adani Transmission Ltd and Adani Total Gas Ltd.

“Adani made headlines when he became the richest Asian billionaire in history. Earlier this year, Adani passed Warren Buffett to become the 5th richest person in the world,” Forbes said.

His companies include a mix of businesses ranging from power generation and transmission to edible oil, real estate and coal. Adani Enterprise is ranked at No. 1,453 in the Forbes list, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone at No. 1,568, Adani Green Energy at 1,570, Adani Transmission at No. 1,705 and Adani Total Gas at 1,746.

Gautam Adani, 59, is a college dropout who started a commodity export firm in 1988. He first appeared on Forbes’ list of the World’s Billionaires back in 2008 with a net worth of $9.3 billion, which he has multiplied to a whopping $90 billion.

Meanwhile, oil, gas and metal conglomerate Vedanta Limited jumped 703 spots on the list, the highest leap among all Indian companies thanks to a surge in price.

It is ranked at 593. The Mumbai-headquartered company that mines aluminum saw a staggering rise in profits in 2021 after China’s production declined.