India’s top 10 companies

On Turnover basis...

1. Indian Oil Corporation

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. is currently India’s largest company by sales with a turnover of
Rs 201493.85 crore (Rs 2014.93 billion) , the highest-ever for an Indian company. IOC is
also ranked in Fortune ‘Global 500′ listing. It is also the 20th largest petroleum company in
the world. Established in 1959 as Indian Oil Company Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd was
formed in 1964 with the merger of Indian Refineries Ltd (est. 1958). Indian Oil and its
subsidiaries account for 47 per cent petroleum products market share, 40.4 per cent refining
capacity and 67 per cent downstream sector pipelines capacity in India. The Indian Oil
Group of companies owns and operates 10 of India’s 19 refineries. These include two
refineries of subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd and one of Bongaigaon Refinery
and Petrochemicals Limited.

IOC’s maxim is ‘Bringing Energy to Life’.

2. Reliance Industries
“Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and
Trust. This is the foundation of our growth.” These are the words of the founder of Reliance,
Dhirubhai Ambani. Reliance Industries, is the largest private sector company in India. It is
the second biggest company in India. The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H.
Ambani (1932-2002), is today headed by Mukesh Ambani.
A Fortune Global 500 company, the group’s activities include exploration and production of
oil and gas, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals (polyester, fibre
intermediates, plastics and chemicals), textiles and retail. Reliance is the largest polyester
yarn and fibre producer in the world and among the top five to ten producers in the world in
major petrochemical products. Major companies are Reliance Industries Limited (including
main subsidiaries Reliance Petroleum Limited and Reliance Retail limited) and Reliance
Industrial Infrastructure Limited.
Reliance’s maxim is ‘Growth is life’.
3. Bharat Petroleum Corporation

BPCL is India’s third largest company. Listed in the Fortune 500 & Forbes 2000 listings,
BPCL calls itself a ‘MNC in PSU garb’. Way back in 1976, the Burmah Shell Group of
Companies was taken over by the government of India to form Bharat Refineries Limited.
On 1st August 1977, it was renamed Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. It was also the
first refinery to process newly found indigenous crude (Bombay High), in India.

After nationalization in 1976, Bharat Petroleum charted out a rapid growth path. Turnover,
profitability and financial reserves have grown significantly over the years. Bharat
Petroleum produces a range of products, from petrochemicals and solvents to aircraft fuel
and specialty lubricants, besides supplying fuel directly to hundreds of industries, and
several international and domestic airlines.

4. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation of India Ltd is a Fortune 500 company. The corporation
operates 2 major refineries producing a wide variety of petroleum fuels and specialties, in
Mumbai and Vishakhapatnam. HPCL holds an equity stake of 16.95 per cent in Mangalore
Refinery & Petrochemicals. In addition, HPCL is planning to set up a refinery in Punjab.

HPCL also owns and operates the largest lube refinery in India. The history of HPCL dates
back to 1952. The company was incorporated in the name of Standard Vacuum Refining
Company of India Limited on July 5, 1952. On 31st March 1962, the name was changed to
ESSO Standard Refining Company of India Limited. In 1974, Hindustan Petroleum
Corporation Limited came into being after the takeover and merger of erstwhile Esso and
Lube India Undertaking, Caltex Oil Refining Ltd and Kosan Gas Company. HPCL is thus a
result of the merger of four organizations.

HPCL’s maxim is ‘Future full of Energy’.

5. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

ONGC is the fifth largest company in India. It is also has the distinction of being highest
profit making corporation in India. ONGC is a Fortune Global 500 company which
contributes 77 per cent of India’s crude oil production and 81 per cent of India’s natural gas
production. The company was incorporated on June 23, 1993 is an Indian public sector
petroleum company.

It was set up as a commission on August 14, 1956. Indian government holds 74.14 per cent
equity stake in this company. ONGC is engaged in exploration and production activities. It
is involved in exploring for and exploiting hydrocarbons in 26 sedimentary basins of India.
It produces about 30 per cent of India’s crude oil requirement. It owns and operates more
than 11,000 kilometers of pipelines in India.

ONGC’s maxim is ‘Making tomorrow brighter’.

6. Steel Authority of India Limited

SAIL is the sixth largest company in India. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is the
leading steel-making company in India. It is a fully integrated iron and steel maker,
producing both basic and special steels for domestic construction, engineering, power,
railway, automotive and defence industries and for sale in export markets.

SAIL is ranked amongst the top ten public sector companies in India in terms of turnover.
SAIL manufactures and sells a broad range of steel products. The government of India owns
about 86 per cent of SAIL’s equity and retains voting control of the Company.

 SAIL produces iron and steel at five integrated plants and three special steel plants, located
principally in the eastern and central regions of India and situated close to domestic sources
of raw materials, including the company’s iron ore, limestone and dolomite mines. The
company has the distinction of being India’s largest producer of iron ore and of having the
country’s second largest mines network. This gives SAIL a competitive edge in terms of
captive availability of iron ore, limestone, and dolomite which are inputs for steel making.

7. NTPC

NTPC is the 7 the company in India. NTPC Ltd is the largest power generating company in
India. A public sector company, it was incorporated in 1975 to accelerate power
development in the country as a wholly owned company of the government of India. At
present, the government of India holds 89.5 per cent of the total equity shares of the
company and the balance 10.5 per cent is held by FIIs, Domestic Banks, Public and others.

In a span of 32 years, NTPC has emerged as a truly national power company; with power
generating facilities in all the major regions of the country.NTPC was incorporated in 1975.
In the last 31 years, it has grown into the largest power utility of India. NTPC is the sixth
largest thermal power generator in the world.

NTPC’s maxim is ‘Powering people’s progress’.

8. Tata Motors
Tata Motors is the 8th largest company in India. Tata Motors recently created history in
India Inc history acquiring luxury auto brands — Jaguar and Land Rover — from Ford
Motor for $2.3 billion dollars. The company is also the world’s fifth largest medium and
heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer, and the world’s second largest medium and heavy
bus manufacturer.
Tata Motors has gained worldwide recognition under the leadership of its managing director
Ravi Kant. Established in 1945, Tata Motors today has 4 million vehicles on Indian roads,
since the first rolled out in 1954. The company’s manufacturing base is spread across India –
Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) in the east, Pune (Maharashtra) in the west, and in the north in
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) and Pantnagar (Uttarakhand). A new plant is being set up in
Singur near Kolkata in West Bengal to manufacture the world’s cheapest car, the Rs 1 lakh
Nano.
Tata Motors is the first company from India’s engineering sector to be listed in the New
York Stock Exchange. In 2004, it acquired the Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Company,
Korea’s second largest truck maker. Tata Motors and Fiat Auto formed an industrial joint
venture at Ranjangaon (near Pune in Maharashtra, India) to produce both Fiat and Tata cars
and Fiat power trains for the Indian and overseas markets.

9. Tata Steel

Tata Steel is the ninth largest company in India with a sales turnover of Rs  25117.78 crore.
Established in 1907, Tata Steel is the world’s 6th largest steel company with an existing
annual crude steel capacity of 28 million tons. It has operations in 24 countries and
commercial presence in over 50 countries. Founded by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, Tata
Steel completed 100 glorious years of existence on August 26, 2007. The first private sector
steel plant which started with a production capacity of 1, 00,000 tons has today transformed
into a global giant.

The company also has three Greenfield steel projects in the states of Jharkhand, Orissa and
Chhattisgarh and proposed steel making facilities in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Through
investments in Corus, Millennium Steel (renamed Tata Steel Thailand) and NatSteel Asia,
Singapore, the Tata Steel has created a manufacturing and marketing network in Europe,
South East Asia and the Pacific-rim countries.

Tata Steel’s vision is to be the global steel industry benchmark for value Creation and
corporate citizenship. Tata Steel is one of the few steel companies in the world that is
Economic Value Added (EVA) positive. It was ranked the ‘World’s Best Steel Maker’, for
the third time by World Steel Dynamics in its annual listing in February, 2006. Tata Steel
has been conferred the Prime Minister of India’s Trophy for the ‘Best Integrated Steel Plant’
five times.

10. Sterilite Industries

Sterlite Industries, a part of Vedanta Resources, a London-listed metals and mining major, is
India’s tenth largest company in terms of sales. Sterilite Industries had a sales turnover of Rs
24,376.83 crore (Rs 243.76 billion) in 2007. Sterlite Industries (India) Limited was acquired
in 1986, bringing together several metal related activities managed by the Agarwal family.
Sterlite was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1988 and on the National Stock
Exchange in 2004.
Vedanta was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2003. Vedanta has two copper
businesses, the first based in India and the second at Konkola Copper Mines in Zambia,
which was acquired in November 2004. The copper business in India is held within Sterlite
Industries (India) Ltd. There is some captive copper mining, but the business is principally
in smelting and refining. Sterilte has plants in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu and Silvassa. Sterlite
owns two copper mines in Australia. In 2005-06, Sterlite had a domestic market share of
some 43% of copper sales.