Top companies in Asia by country
Top companies in Asia by sector
Top companies in Asia methodology
Indian companies are the stars this year, heading no less than seven sector polls: autos and auto parts (Hero Honda, Punjab Motors), engineering (Larsen and Toubro is first equal with ST Engineering of Singapore), media (Subash Chandra's Zee Telefilm replaces Newscorp), metals & mining (Hindalco), pharmaceuticals (the top four slots are occupied by Glaxo Wellcome, Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's Lab, Novartis), petrochemicals (Reliance Industries) and cellular telecoms (MTNL). Infosys ranks third this year in the technology sector and Grasim is now second in conglomerates. ICICI Bank comes in eighth in the banking poll having followed Infosys' Nasdaq flotation last March with a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Newscorp's removal from the top media slot by former alliance partner Zee Telefilm coincides with Zee's acquisition in October of Star Television's stake in three joint venture broadcasting and cable businesses.
Korea has made the strongest recovery of all the Asian economies and leads in insurance (Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance), iron and steel (Pohang), textiles (Hankook Synthetic) and utilities (Korea Electric Power). Samsung Electronics was nominated top Korean company but was pipped into second place as leading Asian technology group this year by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC).