17 Indian firms on Forbes' list of top Asian cos below $1b

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New Delhi, Oct 5 (PTI): As many as 17 Indian firms including Dabur India, Pantaloon Retail, Cipla Healthcare and Asian Paints have been named in the latest Forbes list for top 200 Asian companies with sales of less than a billion dollars.
The latest Forbes 'Asia's 200 Best under a Billion' list included companies from 14 countries from Asia and the Pacific region. Besides India, the list covered China, Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand.
The other Indian companies named in the list for 2007 are Bharat Bijlee, Divi's Laboratories, Elder Pharmaceuticals, Era Infrastructure & Engineering, ICSA, Infotech Enterprises, IPCA Laboratories, NIIT Technologies, NRB Bearings, Nucleus Software, Patni Computer Systems, Praj Industries and Thermax.
The list focuses on companies with less than one billion
dollars in sales and which have recorded consistent growth in sales and profits over three years. These names were selected from over 22,500 publicly listed entities in the region.
However, the number of companies named in the list this year are less than in last year's list which had included 23 companies from the India. The outgoing companies include -- Bajaj Hindustan, Balrampur Chinni Mills, Bharat Forge, Sesa Goa and Cadila Healthcare.
Cipla, classified under the personal care products industry has the highest market value of USD 3.45 billion. It is followed by Asian Paints with USD 2.20 billion and Dabur India (personal care products) with USD 2.13 billion.
In terms of sales, Asian Paints (USD 855 million) and Cipla (USD 833 million) have found a place among the leaders.