Reliance among 10 Asian creditworthy firms
By Our Corporate Bureau | 18 Jul 2002
Mumbai: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is the only Indian company to find a place among Asias 10 most creditworthy companies in the Asset Annual Benchmark Survey of the Asias Best Credits in 2002. The survey, the only extensive survey of investor opinion towards Asian region's credit, is featured in the latest issue of The Asset magazine. This year, RIL has been ranked as the 10th best credit in Asia, unchanged from its position last year.
Among the Indian companies, RIL leads the pack and ranks first. In fact, no other Indian company features among top-30 list of Asias best credits. In this years survey, 153 international investors nominated 165 companies as their preferred credits in 10 markets, casting a total of 935 votes.
This years survey showed that the voting pattern for credits in each market varies considerably according to the type of responding institutions. For example, Asian banks showed that Taiwan is one of their markets of choice, while international banks showed more interest in Thailand (like Total Access Communication) and India (Reliance Industries).
It may be mentioned here that in a recent survey by Far Eastern Economic Review, RIL has ranked number one in the Financial Soundness category for the fourth consecutive year.
RIL was also ranked No 1 in India in the Best Financial Management category in a recent survey by FinanceAsia, a leading finance magazine. This annual poll of fund managers and investors to determine Asias best companies has been published in the April 2002 issue of the magazine.
RIL is Indias largest business house, with total revenues of over Rs 60,000 crore ($12.3 billion), cash flow of over Rs 7,500 crore ($1.5 billion), a net profit of over Rs 4,600 crore ($950 million) and exports of Rs 11,200 crore ($2.3 billion). The group has total assets of Rs 55,000 crore ($11.2 billion).
RILs activities span oil and gas exploration and production, refining and marketing of petroleum products, petrochemicals (including polyester and polymers, and their intermediates), textiles, power, telecom/infocom, and financial services.