Reliance Industries Overtakes Indian Oil As Highest Ranked Indian Company On Fortune 500 List

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd. has jumped 42 places to 106 on the Fortune 500 companies list to become the highest-ranked Indian company in the global rankings. Indian OIl Corporation Ltd., which was the highest-ranking Indian company so far, is ranked 117.

"This year, ranked 106, Reliance Industries (RIL) has replaced Indian Oil (117) as the top-ranked Indian company on the Global 500 list," Fortune said.

Reliance’s revenue soared 32.1 percent from $62.3 billion in 2018 to $82.3 billion in 2018-19. In comparison, Indian Oil clocked a 17.7 percent growth in revenue from $65.9 billion to $77.6 billion in the same fiscal.

"Over the past 10 years, RIL's revenue rose at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.2 percent from $41.1 billion in 2010, while that of Indian Oil rose at 3.64 percent from $54.3 billion in 2010," Fortune said.

Besides RIL and Indian Oil, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd., State Bank of India, Tata Motors Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Petroleum Corporation Ltd. and Rajesh Exports Ltd. are the other Indian companies in Fortune 500 list.

ONGC has moved up 37 places to 160th rank on the global list, while SBI lost 20 places to 236th rank. Tata Motors slipped 33 places to 265th position. BPCL rose 39 places to rank 275th spot, while Rajesh Exports slipped 90 places to rank 495th.

U.S. retail giant Walmart Inc. continues to top the Fortune 500 list followed by Chinese state-owned oil and gas company Sinopec Group, which moved up one rank. Royal Dutch Shell Plc was ranked third followed by China National Petroleum and State Grid.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co. appeared for the first time in Top 10 of the Fortune 500 list at sixth, while BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp., Volkswagen AG, and Toyota Motor Co. Ltd. are ranked 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th, respectively.

"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 Indian Oil was $9.4 billion in the nine years from 2010 to 2018. The difference was as high as $13.2 billion in 2010,” Fortune said.

“The gap started to narrow after 2016 when RIL's revenue was $11.3 billion lesser than Indian Oil. 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," Fortune said.

Over the 10-year-period, Indian Oil saw its highest revenue at $86 billion in 2012, which was $9.8 billion more than its revenue in 2019.

Interestingly, 2012 also saw Reliance registering its second-highest revenue of $76.1 billion. The absolute increase in RIL's revenue between 2012 and 2019 is $8.2 billion. At that peak, Indian Oil and RIL were ranked at 83rd and 99th positions, respectively, on the Fortune 500 list.

In 2018, Reliance was ranked 148th and Indian Oil was at the 137th place.