Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Sun Pharma Industries are the three Indian companies that have been named among the world's 100 most innovative companies by Forbes in a list that has been topped by Tesla Motors.

Fast moving consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever has been ranked 41 on the list, followed by TCS at rank 64 and Sun Pharma at rank 71 in the Forbes list of ‘The World’s Most Innovative Companies’.

The list has been topped by Elon Musk’s California-Based Tesla Motors which has a market capitalization of USD 25.5 billion. Musk has inherited (former Apple CEO) "Steve Jobs' mantle as the cult favorite CEO. And his electric car company has grabbed Apple's creative crown," it said.

On Hindustan Unilever, Forbes said the company had over 35 brands spanning 20 distinct categories. India's largest IT company TCS, with a market cap of USD 80.3 billion, appears on the list for the eighth time. The company took a major step toward bolstering its digital services when last month it announced a training program in digital technologies for a third of its workforce.

In the past year it crossed the milestone of employing 100,000 women, meaning that one out of three employees is now a woman, Forbes said.

Sun Pharma had a market cap USD 39 billion and India’s largest drugs company appears on the list for the fourth straight time. Billionaire Dilip Shanghvi - who owns more than half the company - pipped Mukesh Ambani earlier this year to become the richest man in India.

The list also includes software company salesforce.com on the second spot, followed by Amazon (8), Hermes International (22), Netflix (27), MasterCard (36), Starbucks (45), Adobe (74), Coco Cola (81) and Cognizant (96).

Forbes said companies are ranked by their innovation premium: the difference between their market capitalisation and a net present value of cash flows from existing businesses.

To be included in the list, firms need seven years of public financial data and USD 10 billion in market cap. Forbes said only those industries are included that are known to invest in innovation.