Tata Group has emerged as the 20th most reputed corporate entity globally in the Global RepTrak listing by The Reputation Institute, a global research body. Seven other Indian companies also find themselves in the global top-200, but way below in ranking with only Maruti in the top 100.

The Tata Group, the largest Indian group in terms of revenues and market capitalisation, over 90 operating companies, with a strong international presence in engineering, energy, communications and IT, materials, chemicals, services and consumer products with total revenues of $24 billion and market capitalisation of $47 billion.

Surprisingly, Infosys is ranked lower than auto companies Maruti and Hero Honda, FMCG majors ITC and HLL and banking heavyweight SBI. Globally, Infosys is ranked 155 despite its sterling reputation for corporate governance.

European companies dominate the list, with as many as seven of them in the top 10 and 14 in the top 20. Only two American companies made it to the top 20. Japan also has two representations with Toyota and Honda in the top 20 while Samsung of South Korea and Tata Group are the only other Asian companies in the top 20.

The list was prepared based on interviews with 30,000 people around the world who ranked 600 companies. But respondents were asked to rank only companies from their own country. The Reputation Institute started with a list of the 300 largest companies worldwide. It then looked at the largest companies in each country, so that citizens from each nation in the survey could rank at least ten firms. The initial results were adjusted to account for regional differences.

US company Halliburton, which was involved in many controversies linked to defence contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq, emerged with the worst reputation among large companies. Mitsubishi Motors of Japan, Swedish company Scandia, global oil major Exxon Mobil and cigarette manufacturer Altria also figure among the least reputed companies.

Most Reputed companies worldwide

Rank	Company / Group	Country
1	Barilla Holdings	Italy
2	Lego Holdings	Denmark
3	Lufthansa	Germany
4	IKEA	Sweden
5	Michelin	France
6	Toyota	Japan
7	AP Moller - Maersk	Denmark
8	Ferrero	Italy
9	Samsung	South Korea
10	Kraft Foods	USA
11	Danfoss	Denmark
12	AKER	Norway
13	Johnson & Johnson	USA
14	Phillips	Netherlands
15	Migros Cooperatives	Switzerland
16	Reitangruppen	Norway
17	Tesco	UK
18	BMW	Germany
19	Honda	Japan
20	Tata Group	India

Most Reputed Indian companies

Rank	Company / Group	Global Rank
1	Tata Group	20
2	Maruti	91
3	Hero Honda	108
4	HLL	116
5	ITC	137
6	SBI	149
7	Infosys	155
8	M&M	189

The Reputation Institute aims to advance knowledge about corporate reputations and help companies create economic value by implementing coherent reputing strategies. The Reputation Institute was started in 1997 by Charles Fombrun, who is professor emeritus at the Stern School of Business, New York. The Institute received funding from Shell, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Weber Shandwick, and MS&L.

Today, the Institute operates internationally through a network of offices, associates and representatives.