Tatas, RIL, Infosys among world's 50 most innovative cos

Apple tops the list, followed by Google and Toyota Motor.

Three Indian entities — Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL), diversified conglomerate Tata Group and IT bellwether Infosys Technologies — have entered BusinessWeek magazine’s list of world’s 50 most innovative companies, topped by iPhone maker Apple.

The league of innovative firms also has NRI Lakshmi Mittal-led world’s largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal. Among the 50 companies, Tata Group ranks 13th, Reliance Industries 15th and Infosys 26th. Tata Group and Reliance Industries have been ranked ahead of American industrial conglomerate General Electric (17), German car manufacturer BMW (20), Japanese auto firm Honda Motor (22) and telecom major AT&T (23), among others.

However, while the Tata Group slipped in ranking from the sixth place in 2008, Reliance Industries has improved its previous year’s 19th rank. Infosys was not in the list in 2008. BusinessWeek has placed ArcelorMittal at the 35th spot.

Among the top five, Apple is followed by Internet search giant Google at the second position. Both companies have retained their respective ranks from last year. Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor, software major Microsoft and Japan’s Nintendo are at the third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

The rankings are based mostly on a Boston Consulting Group survey of about 2,700 senior executives worldwide. “The final list weighed the survey results 80 per cent, stock returns 10 per cent, and three-year revenue and margin growth 5 per cent each. In the case of privately held companies, BusinessWeek used metrics equal to industry performance to compare financial data,” the magazine said.

About Tata Group, the magazine said, “Tata can still dazzle, even if its takeovers, since 2007, of steelmaker Corus and Jaguar Land Rover look ill-timed now. After making Asia’s fastest supercomputer, the $85 billion group just launched a $2,000 minicar — the Nano.”

On Infosys, the report said of all of India’s IT giants, Infosys “has been the most conservative when it comes to acquisitions, giving it plenty of cash to spend now if it choose”.

Writing about ArcelorMittal, the magazine said CEO Lakshmi Mittal blazed a trail as he assembled the first truly global steelmaker. “But even a lean structure and low-cost mills are not enough to offset a plunge in the industrial output and steel prices,” it added.

Other companies in the top 10 are IBM (6th), Hewlett-Packard (7), Research In Motion (8), Nokia (9) and Wal-Mart (10).