56 Indian firms in 'The Forbes Global 2000'

China with 113 members and India with 56 members gained the most ground in breaking into the exclusive club of "The Forbes Global 2000" - "the biggest, most powerful listed companies in the world".

The latest list of global giants released by the reputed US business magazine on Wednesday shows the corporate dominance of the developed nations is steadily receding. The rankings span 62 countries, with the US (515 members) and Japan (210 members) still dominating the list, but with a combined 33 fewer entries.

The top ten among 56 Indian Global High Performers are Reliance Industries (126) with sales of $29.40 billion, State Bank of India Group (130), Oil & Natural Gas (155), Icici Bank (282), Indian Oil (313) NTPC (341), Tata Steel (345), Bharti Airtel (471), Steel Authority of India (502) and Larsen & Toubro (548).

UCO Bank (1910) with sales totalling $1.78 brings up the rear for India.

Forbes' ranking of the world's biggest companies using an equal weighting of sales, profits, assets and market value to rank companies according to size "reveals the dynamism of global business," it says.

In total the Global 2000 companies now account for $30 trillion in revenues, $1.4 trillion in profits, $124 trillion in assets and $31 trillion in market value. All metrics are down from last year, except for market value, which rose 61 per cent.

An analysis of the Global 2000 shows that despite the turmoil in the financial sector, banks still dominate, with 308 companies in the 2000 lineup, thanks in large measure to their asset totals.

The oil and gas industry, with 115 companies, scores high in sales, profits and stock-market value, yet these sectors were not the leaders in growth over the past year. Insurance companies (up 27 percent) led all sectors in sales growth, while the leaders in profit growth were drugs and biotech firms (up 20 percent).

To qualify as a Global High Performer, a company must stand out from its industry peers in growth, return to investors and future prospects.

Most of the 130 Global High Performers have been expanding their earnings at 28 percent a year and 20 percent annualised gains to shareholders over the past five years, Forbes noted.