Five Indian firms among Forbes' most innovative companies

California-based global cloud computing company Salesforce tops the list

Five Indian companies, including Hindustan Unilever and Tata Consultancy Services, are among Forbes' list of the world's 100 most innovative companies that investors think are most likely to "generate big, new growth ideas".

The annual 'World's Most Innovative Companies' list, released on Wednesday, has been topped by California-based global cloud computing company Salesforce for the fourth year in a row.

The five Indian companies on the list are consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever, ranked 14th, followed by information technology major Tata Consultancy Services (57), construction services firm Larsen & Toubro (58), pharmaceutical major Sun Pharma Industries (65) and Bajaj Auto (96).

Hindustan Unilever recorded an innovation premium of 54.7 per cent.

Forbes said the innovation premium is a measure of how much investors had bid up the stock price of a company above the value of its existing business based on expectations of future innovative results like new products, services and markets.

The innovation premium of TCS was 39.58 per cent. The Mumbai-based company had a market cap of $71.25 billion as of May.

Larsen and Toubro had an innovation premium of 39.4 per cent and had a market cap of $19.81 billion.

Sun Pharma had an innovation premium of 38.34 per cent with a market cap of $19.88 billion.

Bajaj Auto recorded an innovation premium of 31.73 per cent and a market cap of $10 billion.

Salesforce, with a market cap of $35.87 billion, had an innovation premium of 75.9 per cent.

"A key to Salesforce's success has been its ability to move into bigger companies, selling to enterprise-class large customers who require more modifications and attention than a small or medium business," Forbes said.

The other companies making up the top five on the list are Connecticut-based biotech firm Alexion Pharmaceuticals (2), British semi-conductor company ARM Holdings (3), fast-moving consumer goods company Unilever Indonesia (4) and New York-based biopharmaceutical company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (5).

The US was home to a majority of the companies on the list, with 41 firms headquartered in the country, followed by Europe with 29 companies.