BS 1000: From SII to JCB India, here're top 30 unlisted companies in India

A ranking of the country’s best unlisted companies is dominated by local subsidiaries or associates of some of the world’s top multinational corporations (MNCs), such as Intel, ArcelorMittal, Dell, Accenture, Oracle, Hyundai Motor Company, Google, Pernod Ricard, Capgemini, Saint-Gobain, JCB, Caterpillar, and Microsoft, among others.

Twenty of the best 30 unlisted companies in 2022 are subsidiaries of global MNCs. This should be no surprise. Like their listed peers, Indian subsidiaries of global MNCs are mostly market leaders in their respective industries, with access to world-class products and technology, quality management, well-capitalised balance sheets with minimal debt on their books, and pricing power. These qualities often make them the most profitable in their industry.

Since many unlisted companies had yet to declare their audited financials for the financial year 2021-21 (FY22), our analysis is based on the latest available annual financials, which is for FY21 in many cases.

The top 30 list has four pharmaceutical and health care companies — unsurprising, since the Covid-19 pandemic sent the demand for health care products and services soaring.

This includes the vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII), the best unlisted company in India in FY22. SII’s revenue more than tripled in FY22 on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to Rs 26,802 crore, its net profit was up 186 per cent YoY to Rs 11,116 crore, and its return on equity was 40.6 per cent. This makes SII one of the biggest, most profitable pharma firms in India. Other health care firms in the top 30 list include Hetero Labs, Mankind Pharma and Wipro GE Healthcare.

SII is followed by ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India, Numaligarh Refinery, Dell International Services, India, Accenture Solutions, Mobis India; Zoho Corporation and Oracle India. Other names in the list include Gemini Edibles & Fats India, Reckitt Benckiser, GRT Jewellers, Joyalukkas India, Qualcomm India, Kaleesuwari Refinery, Kiran Gems, and Bunge India.

The methodology

We started with the top 200 unlisted companies based on their latest annual revenues. They were first ranked on their revenues and profits, next on growth in revenue, profit and net worth in their latest fiscal year, and then on return on net worth and ratio of gross debt to equity. The final ranking is a composite ranking on all these parameters.

 

METHODOLOGY AND NOTES

1. Companies are ranked by their latest audited annual revenues on or before the year ended September 30, 2022. The numbers include net sales from the core business, besides other recurring income and 

non-recurring and extraordinary income, but exclude excise duties and other indirect taxes.

2. Wherever possible, figures are on a consolidated basis and include the results of a company’s subsidiaries, its associates and joint ventures, as reported in its consolidated accounts.

3. The revenues, operating profit, net profit, salary, taxes, and dividends have been annualised if the reported numbers are not for 12 months. Taxes include corporate taxes, deferred tax, cess and dividend distribution tax.

4. Market capitalisation is the average for three months ended December 2022.

5. Net profit, net worth and assets have been adjusted for minority interests and exclude revaluation reserves. Net profit after tax is as reported and includes 

extra-ordinary and non-recurring income.

6. The list only includes non-financial companies and excludes banks, non-banking finance companies, 

term-lending institutions, home loan companies, Insurance, brokerages, investment companies and those engaged in securities trading and related industries. 

7. To qualify for the BS1000 list, a company must be listed and its shares should be traded on either of the two leading stock exchanges in India — BSE or NSE. The company should be incorporated in India and declare its financial results in Indian rupees.

8. The revenue figures of trading companies, 

gems & jewellery makers, edible oil refiners and technology products resellers have been adjusted to reflect value addition. These industries are characterised by lower value addition — the difference between value of raw material purchases and sale of final products — compared with manufacturing companies in sectors such as automobiles, textiles, chemicals, consumer goods, capital goods and  metals. These companies also have much lower investment in plant and equipment. Putting them in the same list (without revenue adjustment) would go against manufacturing companies.  

9. For trading companies, revenues refer to gross trading margin, and were derived by deducting the cost of purchase of traded/finished goods from their reported gross revenues. This has been done to bring the 

results of Indian trading companies on a par with international norms. However, it must be mentioned that there are as yet no separate accounting rules for trading firms in India. 

10. Reported revenues of gems & jewellery 

makers, edible oil refiners, and technology product distributors and resellers were adjusted in a similar manner, if their average gross trading/manufacturing margin in the last three years was less than 10 per cent 

of their net sales.  

11. The numbers have been sourced from Capitaline Plus corporate database maintained by Capital Market Publishers India Ltd. All numbers are as reported in the database, and are in Rs  crore, unless specified.

12. The city refers to the location of the company’s head office or its corporate headquarters, and not necessarily its place of incorporation or registered office.

13. Financial Sustainability Index (FSI) broadly indicates “How financially sustainable are a company’s operations?” A higher rank indicates a company’s greater staying power and likelihood of performing better in favourable times. FSI is calculated by assigning 10 per cent weight each to market cap, revenues, ratio of equity to debt, cash flow to interest, cash flow to enterprise value, and market cap to total assets; and 20 per cent weight each to ratio of total income to total assets, and retained earnings to total assets.

14.Unlisted companies are compiled as available and the methodology remains the same.

15. Abbreviations used: OPM – operating profit margin; NPM – net profit margin; RONW – return on networth; ROCE – return on capital employed.
 

Data has been compiled by BS Research Bureau

Here're the key numbers:

• Industry-wise tables

• Unlisted companies

• Alphabetical Index