Reliance Industries tops Fortune India-500 list for second straight year
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has topped the Fortune India-500 list for the second year in a row. The Mumbai-headquartered multinational conglomerate accounts for 7% of cumulative revenues and 11% of profits of the companies on the 2020 list. Last year, RIL toppled state-owned Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) to make it to the top spot for the first time. Here's more.
IOCL ranks second; ONGC at third place
On the 2020 Fortune India-500 list, IOCL ranked second, followed by another state-run oil and gas company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which ranked third. Fortune India compiles this list of 500 top companies in the country on the basis of the revenues generated by them in a financial year. The figures in the latest Fortune India-500 list pertain to FY 2019-20.
Other companies that ranked among top 10
The other companies featuring among the top 10 spots on the latest list include State Bank of India (4), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (5), Tata Motors (6), Rajesh Exports (7), Tata Consultancy Services (8), ICICI Bank (9), and Larsen & Toubro (10).
Manufacturing sector accounted for 76% of total profits
Interestingly, 38 companies on the list earned revenues above Rs. 50,000 crore each, accounting for about 60% of total revenues. Meanwhile, 139 companies recorded revenues below Rs. 3,000 crore each, accounting for less than 4% of revenues. Sector-wise, manufacturing accounted for 62% of total revenues and 76% profits, services for 33% revenues and 19% profits, oil and gas for 22% revenues and 20% profits.
Coronavirus was no ordinary disruption: Fortune India Editor
"The Coronavirus pandemic has shown how the world can change almost irreversibly... As the pandemic gripped the world's biggest economies, the impact on India too has turned out to be severe," wrote Sourav Majumdar, Fortune India Editor, on the publication's website. "The virus led to business models, strategies, and plans being rendered irrelevant overnight as it became clear...this was no ordinary disruption," he added.
List needs to be understood against backdrop of far-reaching changes
"The 2020 Fortune India 500 list of India's largest companies...needs to be understood against the backdrop of these far-reaching changes," said Majumdar. Furthermore, he stated that the list also points to the "various challenges" companies were facing even before the pandemic.
'VUCA world will dominate strategic planning going forward'
"While some sectors took a bigger hit than others, there was hardly any segment of business which was not affected," Majumdar stated. "And as the Indian economy—after the first two terrible quarters of FY21—begins clawing back, companies and their managements know that dealing with the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) world will dominate strategic planning going forward," he wrote.
'Even the largest companies need to adapt to sudden changes'
"There is a 22% fall in cumulative profits of the 500 companies in the 2020 list. The impact of COVID-19 will be evident in next year's listing. In the VUCA world, even the largest companies...need to be nimble and adapt to sudden changes," noted Majumdar.
