11 Indian firms in Forbes Asia’s under-billion list

As many as 11 Indian companies including Avanti Feeds Ltd and Borosil Glass Works are ranked among top 200 Asia Pacific corporations in Forbes Asia’s ‘Best Under A Billion’ list. The list covers public companies with annual revenue of $5 million to $1 billion, Forbes said, adding that they should also have positive net income and should be publicly traded for at least a year.

Companies from mainland China & Hong Kong (84) as well as Taiwan (36) dominated this year’s list accounting for 60 <g data-gr-id="21">per cent</g> of the top 200 publicly-traded companies in the Asia Pacific region. With 11 companies, India was ranked fourth on the list after South Korea which has 17 firms in the coveted list.

The Indian companies that made it to the list include Byke Hospitality, Caplin Point Laboratories, Centum Electronics, Kaveri Seed, <g data-gr-id="27">Kitex</g> Garments, NGL Fine-Chem, Orbit Exports, Premco Global and <g data-gr-id="28">Vakrangee</g>. Of the 200 companies, 123 are new to the list, which underscores the “dynamism of the region’s small and medium-sized sector”, Forbes said. India and Malaysia both have 11 companies on the list while Australia has nine firms. This year, Japan dropped out of the top five countries, with only eight companies compared to 15 last year. Singapore and Thailand were represented by six companies <g data-gr-id="30">each,</g> while Pakistan had by 2 companies.

“The secret to making the BUB is consistent growth in the measured performance metrics. One off year and you are out,” Forbes Asia Editor Tim Ferguson said, adding that “it is also important to have a good, liquid channel for public stock offerings”.