India’s Most Respected Companies

"Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners.” – Laurence Sterne

Respect is a difficult thing to earn. It takes years of exceptional performance and exemplary behavior. And it can be lost because of a single crisis or a single misstep.

It was not merely the exponential growth, It was also the benchmarks the company set along the way — in long term vision, in ethical behavior, in professionalism, in sharing wealth with employees, and in the integrity of its founders — that made it one of India’s most admired companies. In the corporate world, it depends not only on the performance of the previous few years but also the flavour of the day.

According to the latest survey by Business World, the latter factor shows up strongly in our surveys every year. In the 1980s, fast moving consumer goods companies (FMCGs) as well as blue-chip steel and engineering firms took the top spots. In the early 1990s, two heavy industry firms — Tisco (now Tata Steel) and Telco (now Tata Motors) took the first two places. By the mid and late 90s, pharma and software had become the hot sectors. In 1999, for instance, Glaxo was the winner. And heavy industries and blue-chip engineering firms were relegated to lower rungs. FMCG fared even worse — it was just not seen as a sector that was setting the tone in the key parameters of business life. By the middle of the first decade of the new millennium, though, pharma had also started dropping down, while software held on to its top spot. Meanwhile, heavy industries were coming back to fashion — and companies such as Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors and Reliance Industries took their place in the top 10 in most of the surveys.

What is amazing is that Infosys has held on to the title of BW’s Most Respected Company (overall) in every survey since it first won in 2001. Over the past decade, it has faced many challengers to its title, grappled with enormous competition in the market, seen three different people assume the managing director’s role, and struggled with a new world order and slowing growth. But it has continued taking the top spot.

While the survey results over the years show how easy it is to lose respect of your peers, it also shows that some companies have continued garnering respect over decades. So have some groups. Take Tatas, for example. Over three decades, the group has had between two to three companies in the top 10 in almost every survey. Tata Motors and Tata Steel may be playing second fiddle to TCS currently, but they have popped up in the top 10, and often the top 5 consistently. And Reliance Industries — despite all the problems it has faced including the bitter battle between siblings after founder Dhirubhai Ambani’s death — has remained in the top 10 since it first came into the survey.

Source: Business World