Ten Indian companies make it to FT Top 500

Ten Indian companies are listed among Financial Time's top 500 global companies for 2009, in terms of market capitalization. The list was led by American energy giant ExxonMobil, followed by the oil major PetroChina and U.S. retailer Wal-Mart at the second and third positions respectively.


Reliance Industries is the only Indian company which has been listed among the top 100, taking the 75th place with a market capitalization of $47.25 billion. Last year, the company occupied the 80th position in the list. The companies were ranked by market capitalization, the greater the stock market value of a company, the higher it's ranking. Market capitalization is the share price as on March 31, 2009 multiplied by the number of shares issued.

Other Indian firms featuring in the list are Oil & Natural Gas (ONGC) (120th rank), National Thermal Power (NTPC) (138), Bharti Airtel (188), Infosys (330), Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) (345), ITC (362), State Bank of India (372), Tata Consultancy Services (483) and Hindustan Unilever (495).

Is Wal-Mart set to hire over 22,000 people in US?

Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores will hire over 22,000 people this year, a move that will bring cheer to the country’s strained labour market grappling with rising unemployment woes. The retailer, which is one of the least unscathed entities amid the financial turmoil, would be recruiting people for its new and expanded stores nationwide. Wal-Mart has said it would “create more than 22,000 jobs in 2009 to staff new or expanded stores in the US”.

The company would be taking people for positions including store management, pharmacists, human resource managers, customer service associates, cashiers and sales associates. In a statement on Thursday, the retailer said it would create over 1,000 jobs in several individual states. Wal-Mart would generate nearly “1,300 jobs in Arizona; 1,000 jobs in California; 1,300 jobs in Florida; 1,500 jobs in Michigan; 1,200 jobs in New Jersey; 1,000 jobs in South Carolina; 1,200 jobs in Utah and 1,100 in Virginia,” it said.

Last october, Wal-Mart announced plans to open 142 to 157 new or expanded stores in the US. Eduardo Castro-Wright, who is vicechairman of Wal-Mart said the firm is proud to create quality jobs for thousands of Americans during this tough economic time.

“Job creation is just one way in which we’re working hard every day to help people across this country live better,” Castro-Wright noted.

Wal-Mart along with Indian business group Bharti opened their first store in India last week. The joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart Stores Inc was inked in 2007.
Rattled by the raging economic crisis, the US has seen massive job losses in recent months and the official unemployment rate is well above 9%.

The jobless rate has been on the rise as companies have resorted to trimming their workforce as part of cost-cutting measures. US Federal Reserve chairman Ben S Bernanke on Wednesday said more number of jobs could be lost in the next few months. Wal-Mart has presence in many countries and employs more than 2.1 million associates worldwide.

Agencies

Mike Duke new Wal-Mart Chief

Wal-Mart made the announcement that Mike Duke, the head of its international division, will replace H. Lee Scott Jr. as chief executive of the world's largest retailer next year as its foreign business continues to grow rapidly in scale and importance.

Duke has led Wal-Mart's foreign operations since September 2005 and oversees operations in more than a dozen countries and global procurement, crucial experience as the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer that began as a five-and-dime looks overseas to fuel its growth. Duke is also expected to continue Scott's initiative to transform Wal-Mart into a more sustainable business, and he helped lead a meeting last month with 1,000 vendors in China to announce new sourcing standards.

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