Citi, Pepsico ranked among best cos for 'corp transparency'

Citigroup may be surviving on taxpayers money but the Vikram Pandit-led entity along with Pepsico, another firm led by an India-born chief executive Indra Nooyi, have been named among the best companies for corporate transparency by an American publication.

The 10th annual list of '100 Best Corporate Citizens 2009' by Corporate Responsibility Officer (CRO) magazine features US firms ranked for their activities in various areas including governance and employee relations.

Citi is ranked at the 35th spot while Indra Nooyi-led Pepsico is placed at the 85th spot.

Pharma major Bristol Myers-Squibb has topped the league of 100 followed by food retailer General Mills and technology giant IBM at the second and third positions, respectively.

Regarding the list, CRO noted, "when someone next asks you to define 'corporate transparency,' show them this..."

The ranking of the companies are based on activities in seven categories -- environment, climate change, human rights, philanthropy, employee relations, financial and governance.

"This list also proves that 10 years is a long time on the corporate responsibility timeline. Only three companies have made the list all 10 years: Intel, Cisco and Starbucks. Nearly 400 companies have appeared on the list over the past 10 years, including 48, by our count, that no longer exist.

"... the 100 Best List is the best-known annual snapshot of the leaders," the magazine said in an accompanying report.

Compiled by IW Financial and edited by CRO, the ranking is "completely based on publicly available information."

Other companies which have made it to the list are pharma entities Merck & Co (4th rank) and Abbott Laboratories (8), computer hardware makers HP Co (5) and Cisco Systems Inc (6), toy manufacturer Mattel (7), personal care products firm Kimberly-Clark Corp (9) and utilities entity Entergy Corp (10).

The ranking assigns maximum weight of 19.5 per cent to environment and employee relations. Climate change and human rights have a weights of 16.5 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively.

Citi has been severely battered in the ongoing financial turmoil, forcing the government to pump in billions of dollars into the financial services entity.

Already, the company has received 45 billion dollars of fresh capital apart from the US guaranteeing assets worth more than 300 billion dollars.

Agencies