Back12 Indian firms in Hurun Global 500 list; Wipro, Asian Paints, HCL new entrants
Reliance Industries Ltd topped the Indian list of companies with a market capitalization of $188 billion. This was followed by Tata Consultancy Services Ltd with $164 billion, HDFC Bank with $113 billion.
PremiumAs many as 12 Indian companies found a place among the Hurun Global 500 for 2021 as Wipro Ltd, Asian Paints Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd made it to the list of 500 most valuable firms in the world, while ITC Ltd dropped out.
iPhone maker, Apple, retained its position as the world’s most valuable company with a market capitalization of $2.4 trillion, up by 15%.
Back home, energy giant Reliance Industries Ltd topped the Indian list of companies with a market capitalization of $188 billion. This was followed by Tata Consultancy Services Ltd with $164 billion, HDFC Bank with $113 billion.
In terms of overall ranking, Reliance dropped two places to the 57th spot but its valuation rose by 11% during the period. While, new entrants, Wipro, Asian Paints and HCL Tech featured at 457th, 477th and 498th spots, respectively.
The world’s top six valuable companies remained unchanged as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook and Tencent.
The cut-off for this year’s list rose 15% to $36.6 billion. Hurun Global 500 is a list of the 500 most valuable non-state-controlled companies in the world. The cut-off date for the latest list was 15 July 2021.
Country-wise, India rose above Australia to 9th with 12 companies on the list. Mumbai had the highest representation with eight city-based companies featuring in the list, followed by two from Bengaluru and one each from Noida and New Delhi. Financial services and software and services led the way, with four companies, followed by telecommunications with two Indian firms on the Hurun Global 500 list.
Globally, the US led with 243 companies, up by one; followed by China 47, down by four. Japan was third with 30 and the UK was fourth with 24.
“This year, the Hurun Global 500 added $8.5 trillion of value, on the back of a maturing of the digital economy and new technologies, especially in healthcare post covid, but also helped by trillion-dollar economic stimulus packages, which have helped drive up stock markets to records heights, particularly in the US," said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report.
As per the report, the top 10 companies were worth $12.2 trillion, up $1.8 trillion, and represented 21% of the total value of the Hurun Global 500. As many as seven of the Top 10 are from the US, while Alibaba dropped down two places to 9th, while Taiwan chipmaker TSMC broke into the top 10.
Notably, US-based Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple only added $1.5 trillion of value, 18% of the entire list.
As many as 48 companies broke into the Hurun Global 500 this year. This was led by Chinese video-sharing platform Kuaishou, which shot straight into the top 200 place, and South Korean e-commerce platform Coupang straight in at 237th place. Other notable winners included German biotech company BioNTech, developer of a covid vaccine with Pfizer and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
On the flip side, 48 companies dropped out of the list. Notable names included New York Life Insurance that saw profits drop by half, while furniture retailer IKEA reported a 29% fall in operating profit due to the pandemic.
By growth, metals & mining led with 56% increase in value on the back of a surge in copper and iron ore prices, followed by energy up 31%, on the back of a 61% increase in the price of oil, and media & entertainment up 28%. However, hospitality was down 17%.
Traditional carmakers saw a resurgence, leading the autos sector to add 29% in value, with Toyota Motors up 57% to $292bn and Volkswagen up 79% to $150bn. Tesla was still the most valuable car company in the world, up $75bn to $621bn and one place to 8th.
“The world’s most valuable companies keep getting more valuable, with the total value of the 10 most valuable companies rising five times in the last decade. This concentration of economic power has gained the attention of governments, with recent reforms by the Chinese government hitting e-commerce platforms, fintech and education stocks hardest," said Hoogewerf.
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