Dalian (China), pti: China may be the ‘world’s factory,’ but Indian companies, led by software giants TCS and Infosys, continue to outshine and dominate the annual ranking of big-cap, profitable companies in Asia.

A total of 12 Indian companies made it to the third annual Forbes Asia Fabulous 50 List, followed by Taiwan with 10 and China with seven, Forbes Asia said in a press release.

Four of India's IT outsourcing companies made the cut including the biggest, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that writes software for leading American firms. Its revenues leapt 45 per cent in the last year and its market capitalisation has doubled since listing three years ago to cross the US$27 billion mark, the release said. Tata earns nearly all of its revenues overseas but will move some of its work back to India, it added.

Home grown
The 12 Indian companies on Forbes Asia ‘Fabulous 50’ list are: Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bharti Airtel, Grasim Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries, Satyam Computer Services, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel and Wipro. Most of the Indian firms on the list, however, did not have to leave home to find success, the release noted. With a relatively young population of 1.1 billion, India has its own huge market.

Companies such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel are growing fast by reaching out to the country's rural customers, not to Western markets. Others, such as Grasim, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance, are shoring up the country's infrastructure at a furious pace. Only companies with revenues or market capitalisation of at least $5 billion and a five-year record of operating profitability and return on equity are covered.

Organic growth
Other criteria include long-term profitability, sales and earnings growth, stock price appreciation and projected earnings. The Fabulous 50 List appears in the September 17 issue of Forbes Asia.

Companies on the list are also supplementing organic growth with acquisitions. Tata Steel bought Britain’s Corus Group to a chorus of cheers back home, despite the US$13 billion price tag. Close on the heels of India is Taiwan with ten companies on the list this year.  China may be the world’s factory, but all seven of the mainland's companies featured this year also rely on customers within its border.

They include China Mobile and the Lenovo Group. More Chinese companies would have made the list but transparency remains an issue, even at the biggest of the old state-owned enterprises, the release said.

This year's list includes several new entries. Among them: Cathay Pacific Airways, Australian construction firm Leighton Holdings,  Nintendo, and Neptune Orient Lines and SembCorp Industries, the release added.