India has 54 of the world's top 2,000 public companies: Forbes

Fifty-four of the 2,000 largest and most powerful public companies in the world are in India, with Reliance Industries leading the pack, as per the Forbes' annual list (See: Reliance still India's richest firm in Forbes list; but China bags top 3 slots).

Chinese companies occupy the top three spots in the Forbes 'Global 2000', which is a comprehensive list of the world's top publicly-owned companies, as measured by revenues, profits, assets and market value.

Five of the world's top 10 public companies are also in China.

The US dominates the list with 564 of the most powerful Global 2000 companies, followed by Japan with a total of 225 companies.

India has 54 of the world's biggest companies where the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is ranked 135 on the list with a market value of $50.9 billion and annual sales of $72.8 billion as of May 2014.

Public sector State Bank of India, with annual sales of $37.1 billion and a market value of $23.6 billion, is ranked 155th in the Forbes Global 2,000 list.

Other Indian companies in the Global 2,000 list are Oil and Natural Gas ranked 176, ICICI Bank (304), Tata Motors (332), Indian Oil (416), HDFC Bank (422), Coal India (428), Larsen & Toubro (500), Tata Consultancy Services (543), Bharti Airtel (625), Axis Bank (630), Infosys (727), Bank of Baroda (801), Mahindra & Mahindra (803), ITC (830), Wipro (849), Bharat Heavy Electricals (873), GAIL India (955), Tata Steel (983) and Power Grid Corporation of India (1,011).

The list also includes Bharat Petroleum (1,045), HCL Technologies (1,153), Hindustan Petroleum (1,211), Adani Enterprises (1,233), Kotak Mahindra Bank (1,255), Sun Pharma Industries (1,294), Steel Authority of India (1,329), Bajaj Auto (1,499), Hero Motocorp (1,912), Jindal Steel & Power (1,955), Grasim Industries (1,981) and JSW Steel (1,990).

The 2014 list of Global 2000 companies are drawn from 62 countries against 46 in the inaugural 2003 rankings.

The top 2,000 companies in the list had combined revenues of $38 trillion and profits of $3 trillion, with total assets of $161 trillion and a market value of $44 trillion.

Their combined market value saw a growth of 13 per cent year-on-year.

These companies together employ 90 million people worldwide.

For the first time in the ranking's 11 years, China has taken top three slots in Forbes's Global 2,000 list. China also has five of the top 10 global companies.

State-controlled Chinese bank ICBC with over $3 trillion in assets holds onto its number 1 spot for a second consecutive year, while China Construction Bank with over $2.4 trillion in assets takes second place and Agricultural Bank of China also with assets of over $2.4 trillion moves up five spots to third.

The United States accounted for five of the remaining top 10 companies in the Global 2000 list.

Berkshire Hathaway and Wells Fargo with assets of $493 billion and $1.5 trillion both moved up four spots to number five and number nine respectively.

J P Morgan with assets of over $2.4 trillion slid to fourth place as its total composite score slipped behind Agricultural Bank of China, which had assets of $2.4 trillion.

Technology giant Apple is ranked 15 followed by financial giant Citigroup (16) and energy corporation Chevron on rank 18.

About 20 Japanese companies dropped off from this year's list while China (mainland and Hong Kong) added 25 to the list this year and raising the total to 207, the highest for any country.

The expanded list saw Mauritius, Slovakia, and Togo make their debut this year.

Africa, which has the least Global 2000 members, managed to add seven companies to the list.

Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook moved up 561 spots to number 510 this year with 55 per cent growth in sales and 2,711 per cent growth in profits.

Hewlett-Packard, one of the biggest losers from last year (No 438 in 2013), returned to profitability and climbed 358 spots to number 80 in the list.

Banks and diversified financials still dominate the list with 467 members.

Oil and gas (125 companies), insurance (114), and utilities (110) are the next three biggest industries by membership in the list.

The semiconductor industry leads all sectors in terms of sales growth (up 11 per cent), while diversified financial companies reported a combined profit growth of 90 per cent and construction companies saw their assets grow 18 per cent, according to Forbes.