India home to 54 of world's largest, most powerful companies: Forbes

1.       India home to 54 of world's largest, most powerful companies: Forbes

(i) According to Forbes Magazine India is home to 54 of the world's biggest companies.

(ii) Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the pack of 54 Indian companies in Forbes' annual list of the world's 2000 largest and most powerful public companies,

(iii) Reliance is followed by State Bank of India which is ranked 155 and has a 23.6 billion dollars market value.

(iv) The other Indian companies on the list are Oil and Natural Gas ranked 176, ICICI Bank (304), Tata Motors (332), Indian Oil (416), HDFC Bank (422), Coal India (428), Larsen & Toubro (500), Tata Consultancy Services (543), Bharti Airtel (625), Axis Bank (630), Infosys (727), Bank of Baroda (801), Mahindra & Mahindra (803), ITC (830), Wipro (849), Bharat Heavy Electricals (873), GAIL India (955), Tata Steel (983) and Power Grid of India (1011).

(v) China is home to the world's top three biggest public companies and five of the top 10.

(vi) For the first time in the ranking's 11 years, China is home to the world's three biggest public companies and five of the top 10. State-controlled Chinese bank ICBC holds onto its number 1 spot for a second consecutive year, while China Construction Bank takes second place and Agricultural Bank of China moves up five spots to third.

(vii) The United States accounted for the other half of the top 10 spots. Berkshire Hathaway and Wells Fargo both moved up four spots to number five and number nine respectively.

(viii) The Forbes 'Global 2000' is a comprehensive list of the world's largest, most powerful public companies, as measured by revenues, profits, assets and market value.

2.       Supreme Court bans jallikattu in Tamil Nadu

(i) Country’s apex court banned ‘jallikattu’ (bull fighting) and bullock cart racing in Tamil Nadu. The court also banned bullock cart racing in Maharashtra.

(ii) A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Misra said, “Forcing a bull and keeping it in the waiting area for hours and subjecting it to the scorching sun is not for the animal’s well-being. Forcing and pulling the bull by a nose rope into the narrow, closed enclosure or ‘vadi vassal’ (entry point), subjecting it to all forms of torture, fear, pain and suffering by forcing it to go the arena and also over-powering it in the arena by bull tamers, are not for the well-being of the animal.”