The latest Fortune Global 500 marks the silver jubilee of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on the coveted list of the world’s largest corporations. Till last year, it had been the top ranked Indian company on it and No. 1 on the Fortune India 500 list since the list’s inception in 2010.
This year, ranked 106, Reliance Industries (RIL) has replaced IOC (117) as the top-ranked Indian company on the Global 500 list. RIL’s revenue soared 32.1% from $62.3 billion in 2018 to $82.3 billion in 2019, while IOC clocked a 17.7% growth in revenue from $65.9 billion to $77.6 billion. Over the past 10 years, RIL’s revenue rose at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.2% from $41.1 billion in 2010, while that of IOC rose at 3.64% from $54.3 billion in 2010.
There are five more Indian companies on the list besides RIL and IOC: Oil & Natural Gas, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, Bharat Petroleum, and Rajesh Exports.
The journey of RIL, which marks its 16th year on the Global 500 list this year, to the top position has been interesting. The average difference of its revenues with that of IOC was $9.4 billion in the nine years from 2010 to 2018. The difference was as high as $13.2 billion in 2010. The gap started to narrow after 2016 when RIL’s revenue was $11.3 billion lesser than IOC. The difference further fell to $6.6 billion and $3.6 billion in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and RIL surpassed IOC by $4.7 billion in 2019.
Over the 10 years, IOC saw its highest revenue at $86 billion in 2012, which is $9.8 billion higher than its revenue in 2019. Interestingly, 2012 also saw RIL’s second highest revenue of $76.1 billion; the absolute increase in RIL’s revenue between 2012 and 2019 is $8.2 billion. At the 2012 peak, IOC and RIL were ranked 83 and 99, respectively, on the Global 500 list. In 2018, RIL was ranked 148 and IOC, 137.
Tata Motors, which debuted on the list in 2010 at 442, is at 265. Last year, it was at 232. Tata Motors registered a 10-year CAGR of 8.38%, from $19.5 billion in 2010 to $43.6 billion in 2019. Rajesh Exports, which debuted in 2016 at rank 423, has seen the highest annual fall among the seven Indian companies in 2019. From 405 in 2018, Rajesh Exports slipped to 495 in 2019.
From 216 in 2018, the rank of Indian’s largest bank, and also the sole representative from the banking sector, State Bank of India (SBI) fell 20 notches in 2019 to 236. From $28.2 billion in 2010, SBI’s revenue grew at a 10-year CAGR of 5.3% to $47.3 billion in 2019. In these 10 years, SBI registered its highest revenue in 2018, at $47.6 billion.
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), which saw revenue growth of 19.9% and 16.5%, respectively, improved their ranks this year: ONGC moved up 37 ranks from 197 in 2018 to 160, and BPCL’s rank improved by 39 notches from 314 in 2018 to 275 in 2019.
