Cipla, Godrej Group in 'Change the World' list

Two Indian companies -- Cipla and Godrej Group -- have been named in Fortune magazine's list of top 50 companies that are addressing global social problems as part of their core business strategy.

The second annual 'Change the World' list is topped by UK's GlaxoSmithkline, followed by Israel-based IDE Technologies and American conglomerate General Electric at the second and third positions, respectively.

Drug major Cipla is ranked 46th while Godrej Group is placed at the 48th spot.

Other companies in the list include Gilead Sciences (4th rank), Nestle (5), Nike (6), MasterCard (7), United Technologies (8), Novozymes (9) and First Solar (10).

Coca-Cola (11), Walmart (15), LinkedIn (35), PepsiCo (38) and Starbucks (45).

For the list, companies with annual revenues of USD 1 billion or more were prioritised and then they were assessed on the basis of various factors including 'measurable social impact' and 'business results'.

About Cipla, the magazine said that more than two decades ago, a Mumbai-based 80-year-old pharmaceutical company developed a revolutionary anti-AIDS cocktail and stunned the world by offering it for as low as a dollar a day.

"The move may have pushed the envelope in patent law, but it proved to be a turning point in the battle against the killer disease. Today, one in three people living with HIV across 115 countries are taking a Cipla drug," it noted.

Regarding Godrej Group, Fortune said a 119-year-old conglomerate whose businesses span from appliances to aerospace, Godrej gets nearly a quarter of its revenue from its "Good and Green" products.

"Since 2010, the company has flooded the market with eco-friendly products, taken giant strides in a carbon neutral, zero waste, and a renewable energy effort, and imparted skills training to more than 200,000 youth from marginalised communities in 142 cities.

"For Godrej, it's been a growth story: Revenue from its Good and Green portfolio has grown 140 per cent annually for the past 5 years," it added.