12 Indian firms among Forbes’ 50 best cos in Asia-Pacific

New York: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Technologies and HDFC Bank are among the 50 best public companies in Asia-Pacific according to a compilation by Forbes, which ranked India second behind China as home to the “world’s next growth engines”.

The Forbes 2014 ‘Honour Roll of the Fabulous 50′ lists best of Asia-Pacific’s biggest publicly traded companies. China has 16 companies on the list, more than any other country, a distinction it has enjoyed for the last three years. However, the number of Chinese companies on the list has gone down from 20 last year on the back of slow economic growth in the country.

India trails China with 12 companies on the list, the same number as last year. The Indian companies on the list are Asian Paints, Axis Bank, HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Lupin, Mahindra and Mahindra, Mothersome Sumi Systems, Sun Pharma, TCS, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra and Titan.

HDFC Bank, India’s second-largest private sector bank, has made the list eight times, more than any other company since Forbes started the compilation in 2005.

TCS makes it to the list for the seventh time while Tech Mahindra, the country’s fifth-largest IT player, debuts on the list after net profits touched $500 million. Indian conglomerate ITC failed to make it to the list this year. Forbes said TCS, India’s largest IT company, boasts a market cap of $71.25 billion, bigger than the country’s next three IT outfits combined.

“Long dependent on the US market, (TCS) may soon generate more than half its revenue outside the US,” the publication said. South Korea has six companies on the list, followed by Hong Kong with three and two each from Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Technology companies dominated the list with nine representatives. The consumer durables industry has the second most members with seven companies, including four motor vehicle giants from China and India, as the rise of Asia’s middle class continues to drive demand.

Three oil and gas companies make it into the rank, up from only one firm from last year. The list is chosen from a pool of 1,300 companies in the region that have at least $3 billion in market cap or annual revenue.

Forbes took into account performance measures and outlook and did not include companies that carried a lot of debt or were more than 50% state-owned.