7 Indian firms in Fortune 500 list, IOC tops, RIL up 55 ranks

American retail giant Walmart tops the latest Fortune listing, while Indian Oil jumped to 137th position, from its 168th rank last year. “The world’s 500 largest companies generated $30 trillion in revenues and $1.9 trillion in profits in 2017. Together, this year’s Fortune Global 500 companies employ 67.7 million people worldwide and are represented by 33 countries,” Fortune said.

The Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, whose main oil and gas business has been supplemented with the addition of telecom player Jio, was the top private company from India as its ranking improved by 55 places to 148, from being the 203rd last year.

State-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), which did not figure in the 2017 list, returned among the Forbes 500 with a ranking of 197th. In the continuing good story for oil companies at a time of rising prices, two Chinese majors - Sinopec and CNPC - were at 3 and 4, respectively, while Royal Dutch Shell secured the 5th position on the list. State Grid Corporation of China is at second position in the Fortune 500 of 2018. Oil marketer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) moved up to 314th position, from 360th last year, while the State Bank of India improved one place over last year to be at 216.

Tata Motors improved its ranking to 232, from 247th last year.