6 Indian Brands Among World's Best 500

Tata

Tata is the only Indian brand making it to the top 50, as per the latest ranking. Tata has improved its ranking in this coveted list from 50 in 2011 to 44 this year. Its brand value has also increased to $16.3 billion this year from $15.8 billion a year ago, the valuation consultancy, Brand Finance, said. Amid falling demand in western economies and rising commodity prices, high level of diversification in Tata business portfolio means that the group has been able to generate revenues in numerous areas, Brand Finance said. "Historically, Tata's brand equity has always been very strong with the group having been regarded as one of the world’s most reputable organizations for a number of decades," it added.

Tata Group is an Indian multinational company with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The largest conglomerates in India by market capitalization and revenue, Tata has interests in communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. Tata Group has operations in more than 80 countries across six continents and its companies export products and services to 80 nations. It includes 114 companies and subsidiaries in eight business sectors, 27 of which are publicly listed. 65.8 percent of the ownership of Tata Group is held in charitable trusts. Companies which form a major part of the group include - Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Technologies, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals, Titan Industries, Tata Power, Tata Communications, Tata Sons, Tata Teleservices and the Taj Hotels.

Airtel

Airtel, with a brand value of $5.22 billion, was ranked #186 this year. It ranked 284 in 2011, with a brand value of $3.68 billion.

Bharti Airtel, usually known as Airtel, is an Indian telecommunications company that operates in 20 countries across South Asia, Africa and the Channel Islands. Airtel is the 3rd largest telecom operator in the world, with over 243.336 million customers across 20 countries as of March 2012. It is the largest cellular service provider in India, with over 176.95 million subscribers at the end of January 2012. Airtel is the third largest in-country mobile operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and China Unicom. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and second largest provider of fixed telephony in India and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. It offers its telecom services under the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal.

Infosys  

Infosys has improved its position in the list. Infosys, officially known as Infosys Technologies, is an Indian global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore. Infosys ranks 27 in the list of top companies of India in Fortune India 500 list in 2011. It has offices in 29 countries and development centers in India, US, China, Australia, UK, Canada, Japan and many other countries. Infosys has had 1,45,088 employees of 85 nationalities as on December 31, 2011. Infosys offers business consulting, technology, engineering and outsourcing services to help clients in over 30 countries. The company is under a debt of 14 billion dollars. Infosys was rated best employer to work for in 2000, 2001 and 2002 by Hewitt Associates. In 2007, Infosys received over 1.3 million applications and hired fewer than 3 percent of applicants. Infosys won the Global MAKE (Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises) award in the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 and was introduced into the Global Hall of Fame for the same. Infosys also ranked 15 in the most trusted brand in India by ‘The Brand Trust Report’ in 2011.

Reliance Industries

Reliance Industries also slipped to 235th rank from 133 in 2011. Reliance Industries (RIL) is an Indian multinational company headquartered in Mumbai. The company works through three business divisions - petrochemicals, refining and oil and gas, other segment of the company includes textile, retail business, Special Economic Zone (SEZ) development and telecom/broadband business. RIL is the biggest publicly traded company in India by market capitalization and second-largest public corporation in India when ranked by revenue. The company is listed on Fortune Global 500 and Forbes Global 2000. In September 2008, Reliance Industries was the only Indian firm included in the Forbes's list of ‘World's 100 Most Respected Companies.’ In 2010 it stood at 13th position in the ‘Platt’s Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings.’

State Bank of India

State Bank of India slipped to 218th slot from 171 in 2011. State Bank of India (SBI) is the largest banking and financial services company in India by revenue, assets and market capitalization. The state-owned corporation is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Bank of Madras combined into the other two presidency banks, Bank of Calcutta and Bank of Bombay to structure Imperial Bank of India, which in turn became State Bank of India. SBI had assets of $370 billion with over 13,000 outlets including 150 overseas branches and agents globally as of March 2011. The government of India nationalized the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) taking a 60 percent stake and renamed it the State Bank of India. In 2008, the government took over the stake held by RBI. SBI was ranked 292 globally in Fortune Global 500 list in 2011.

Indian Oil Corporation

Indian Oil Corporation came down to 292 from 234 in 2011. Indian Oil Corporation or Indian Oil is an Indian state-owned oil and gas corporation headquartered in New Delhi. According to the Fortune Global 500 list, it is the world's 98th largest public corporation and the largest public corporation in India in terms of revenue. The Indian Oil Group of Companies owns and operates 10 of India's 21 refineries, with a combined refining capacity of 65.7 million metric tons per year. Indian Oil operates the largest and the widest network of fuel stations in the country. It has also started Auto LPG Dispensing Stations (ALDS) and supplies Indane cooking gas to over 62.4 million households through a network of 5,456 Indian distributors. In addition, Indian Oil's Research and Development Center (R&D) at Faridabad supports, develops and provides the necessary technology solutions to the operating divisions of the corporation and its customers within the country and abroad.