Infosys, Wipro in Forbes list of fabulous firms

NDTV: "Software giants Infosys Technologies and Wipro along with ICICI Bank are the three Indian companies that figure in the list of 50 fabulous Asian firms compiled by Forbes magazine.

Companies with at least five billion dollars in revenue or market value were considered for the list and some 500 made the grade and met the magazine's definition of "big."

Out of them, 50 were chosen on the basis of the best aggregate score for long-term profitability, sales and earnings growth as well as projected earnings and stock price gains.

Infosys Technologies, according to Forbes, has a market value of $14.7 billion and its sales are put at $1.6 billion. The corresponding figures for Wipro are $11.7 billion and $1.9 billion. But, ICICI Bank with market value of $8.1 billion has sales worth $3.9 billion. But none of the three firms could find a place among the top 10.

Among the top five are two Chinese companies and one each from Japan, Australia and South Korea.

The first place goes to Toyota Motors of Japan which has a market value of $146.2 billion and sales worth $173.1 billion.

China's petroleum company Petro China with market value of $143.9 billion and sales of $46.9 billion finds the second place followed by Australian materials outfit BHP-Billion with market cap of $93.3 billion and sales worth $29.6 billion.

China Mobile, Hong Kong-based telecommunications company, is placed fourth with market value of $85.3 billion and sales amounting to $23.3 billion.

At the fifth place is Samsung Electronics of South Korea with market cap of $77 billion and sales worth $79.2 billion.

Thirteen Japanese companies - highest from a single country - are among the top 50, followed by ten from Australia, seven from China, eight each from South Korea and Taiwan and one from Thailand. But among the seven Chinese companies, six are Hong Kong-based. (PTI) "