India's two leading conglomerates, Tatas and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Group, have made it to the league of the world's 25 most innovative companies, riding on the cheapest commercial car Nano and an aggressive growth path, respectively.
In the list of world's 25 most innovative companies released in New York on Friday, Tata group is ranked at the sixth position, while Reliance Industries is at 19th spot.
The list, published in the April 28 edition of BusinessWeek magazine that hit the newsstands on Friday, has been compiled by the US financial publication in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group.
Both Tata and RIL have made it for the first time to the annual list, which is topped by Apple Computer, the maker of iPod music players and Mac personal computers.
Apple is followed by Internet search giant Google, Japanese auto major Toyota, industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE) and software behemoth Microsoft in the top five.
About Tata group, BusinessWeek said that "Mumbai-based conglomerate jumps onto our list for the first time, fuelled by its paradigm-busting $ 2,500 'Nano' car for the masses".
"The car, from its Tata Motors unit, is the world's cheapest, thanks partly to a distribution model that sells the auto in kits to entrepreneurs who assemble them for buyers."
About RIL, it noted that "the Indian petrochemicals giant made it onto our list this year thanks to fans of its aggressive growth. But its ambitious plans to reach into grocery retailing, which is dominated in India by small shopkeepers who have rebelled against corporate entrants, have faltered," it added.
Tata group, at its sixth position, has been ranked higher than companies like Nintendo, Procter & Gamble, Sony, Nokia, Amazon.com, IBM, Blackberry-maker Research in Motion, BMW, Hewlett-Packard, Honda Motor, Walt Disney and General Motors.
Besides, Reliance Industries has also beaten out global giants like Boeing, Goldman Sachs, 3M, Wal-Mart, Target and fast-growing social networking website Facebook.
BusinessWeek has ranked total 50 firms on its website, including the top 25 innovative companies. These firms also include another company run by a person of Indian origin -- telecom giant Vodafone, which has Arun Sarin as its CEO.
Last year, the British company entered India through a multi-billion dollar majority stake buyout of Hutch-Essar. Ranking it at 47th position, BusinessWeek said that "spotting the potential for growth in emerging markets, the British mobile phone giant partnered with Kenya's cell phone operator Safaricom to offer mobile payment service M-Pesa."
"Aimed at customers without bank accounts, the new service is being rolled out across Vodafone networks in Britain, Tanzania and India," it noted about Vodafone.
The magazine said that as the recession debate shifts from 'what if' to 'how long', slashing research and development budgets just got a lot more tempting.
"But there can be an upside to the downturn. Low-cost methods for creating new products are easier than ever as emerging markets provide both cheap labour and booming pockets for growth," it said.
In an accompanying list of 20 most innovative companies by region, the magazine said that Tata and RIL have been ranked at fourth and eighth positions in Asia.
Besides, Tatas have been ranked at eighth and 13th ranks in Europe and North America, but RIL does not figure in the Europe and North American lists.