ITC tops Fortune's list of 'most admired' Indian firms

ITC, the now widely-diversified cigarette maker, has replaced Tata Consultancy Services as the country's most admired company on the latest Fortune magazine list.

The list of most admired companies for the year 2014 has got as many as 19 new entrants, including Cognizant, Birla Group firm Idea Cellular, and Delhi electricity distributor BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd.

In the latest list ITC is followed by engineering and infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro, FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever, carmaker Maruti Suzuki and the public sector State Bank of India among the top five most admired companies in India.

 In comparison, the list for 2013 was topped by TCS, followed by HUL, ITC, Infosys and SBI at in the top-five. TCS has moved down to the sixth position this year.

 Releasing the third annual list of 45 most admired companies in India for the year 2014, the business magazine said there are as many as 19 new entities on the list including GMR Infra, Shapoorji Pallonji, Idea Cellular, BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL), Cognizant and Abbott Pharma.

 The list has been prepared in in collaboration with the Hay Group.

 In sectoral rankings, NTPC is at the top position for the power sector and is followed by Tata Power, BRPL, PowerGrid and BSES Yamuna Power in the top five. These are followed by NPCIL, Adani Power, NHPC, CESC, Gujarat State Electricity, Suzlon Power, Kalpataru Power Transmission and Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam.

 Out of these, three companies have found place on the main list -- NTPC at 22nd, Tata Power at 27th, BRPL at 35th position.

 For the telecom sector, Vodafone India is on the top and is followed by Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Tata Communications, Reliance Communications, Aircel, Tata Tele, MTNL, BSNL, MTS, Tulip Telecom and Uninor.

 The list for pharma and healthcare sector is topped by Apollo Hospitals, followed by Abbott India, GSK Pharma, Cadila, Sun Pharma, Cipla and Ranbaxy, among others.

 The rankings are based on a survey of over 1,500 companies as per responses from the top industry executives, including on the basis of peer group response.