7 India firms in Fortune 500; Rajesh Exports replaces ONGC

Seven Indian companies figure in the latest Fortune 500 list, released on Thursday, of the world's biggest companies in terms of revenue.

Among Indian companies, state-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is ranked highest at 161st with revenues of $54.7 billion, although the other public sector firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp has moved out of the rankings for 2016.

ONGC has been been replaced by gems and jewellery firm Rajesh Exports, which makes its Fortune 500 debut this year at 423rd position.

Of the state-run firms, IOC is followed by State Bank of India (SBI), Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is the highest ranked, though it has slipped down to 215th position, from 158 last year.

Tata Motors follows at number 226, up from 254th last year, with new entrant Rajesh Exports bringing up the rear.

Bharat Petroleum fell from 280th to 358th this year, while Hindustan Petroleum is at 367th, compared to its 327th place last year.

SBI has improved its position to 232, from being at 260 last year.

The overall list was topped by retail giant Walmart with revenue of $482,130 million.

The world's 500 largest companies generated $27.6 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits in 2015, Fortune said.

Others in the global top 10 companies are State Grid (second, $329,601 million), China National Petroleum (third, $299,271 million), Sinopec Group (4th, $294,344 million), Royal Dutch Shell (5th, $272,156 million), Exxon Mobil (6th, $246,204 million), Volkswagen (7th, $236,600 million), Toyota Motor (8th, $236,592 million), Apple (9th, $233,715 million) and BP (10th, $225,982 million).

--IANS

bc/vd