23 Indian mid-caps make it to Forbes' best under-billion list

Mumbai: India is now the fourth biggest home to the best small companies in Asia with 23 domestic firms finding place in the Forbes magazine's list of '200 best under-billion companies.'

Indian companies Great Eastern Shipping, Cipla and Sesa Goa have also managed to make to the top-25 of the `Asia's 200 best under billion' list published in Forbes's Asia edition.

The Forbes ranking also places India ahead of countries like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand, marking a growing recognition for India Inc that including small companies and not just IT majors and the corporate giants.

Taiwan leads the ranking with as many as 31 companies, followed by China with 30 entries and Australia with 27 companies on the list. The list has 11 companies each from Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand, five from Indonesia, 19 each from Japan and Singapore, eight from Malaysia, three from Pakistan and one each from New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Hong Kong-based China Merchants Holdings with a profit of $305 million tops the list, followed by Australia's Oil Search at second position with profit of $193 million.

GE Shipping has been ranked third most profitable in the list with a net income of $193 million, followed by pharma major Cipla with net income of $136 million at ninth place in the overall Asia list.