RIL at 155 in Fortune Global 500 list, drops 59 spots from 2020

Reliance Industries Ltd has dropped to the 155th place on the list of Fortune Global 500 companies. According to reports, the Indian conglomerate has dropped 59 spots on the list, and its ranking is its lowest since the last four years.

The list, which was released on August 2, is topped by Walmart while State Grid comes in second. Amazon occupies the third place on the Fortune 500 table. Walmart’s revenue stood at $524 billion, while State Grid’s was at $384 billion. Amazon’s revenue stood at $280 billion.

Oil price impact

Reliance Industries revenue dropped over 25 percent to touch $63 billion largely because of the huge crash in oil prices during the spread of the Covid-19 virus across the globe. According to Fortune, the ranking is decided after assessing the total revenue for the fiscal year that ended before or on March 31, 2021. The oil crisis of 2020 impacted the revenue of other Indian companies as well. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) fell 61 spots to touch rank no 212. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) stood in the 243rd place on the Fortune 500 table, a drop of 53 places when compared to the previous year. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) also dropped to 394 from its earlier 309th place. Tata Motors dropped 20 spots to take the 357th place.

The Indian companies that improved their rankings include State Bank of India (SBI) which inched up 16 spots to touch 205. This is the second consecutive year in which the bank has boosted its ranking; last year, SBI had gained 15 spots. Rajesh Exports also boosted its position by jumping a huge 114 places to touch the 348th place.

According to a note from Fortune cited in the media, its list of 500 companies worldwide together reported revenues worth over one-third of the global GDP. The revenues of these companies, which slipped 5 percent, stood at $31.7 trillion, while profits stood at $1.6 trillion, which was down 20 percent. Apple, which stood in sixth place, was the world’s most profitable company for 2021, with $57 billion in profit. Walmart continued its reign at the top for eight straight years and has occupied the first place 16 times, including this time.

RIL Fortune 500 rankings in the past

In 2020, Reliance Industries occupied the 96th place in the Fortune global 500 list, jumping 10 spots to get into the list of 100 top ranked firms. It then had a revenue of a little over $86 billion. Prior to 2020, Reliance Industries had found a place in the top 100 in 2012, when it made it to the 99th place. Ever since its ranking had slipped over the years to touch 215 in 2016.

Reliance earnings performances

In its recently released Q1 FY 22 results, Reliance Industries reported a drop of 7.25 percent in its net profit year on year. Its net profit for the April to June period stood at Rs 12,273 crore when compared to the Rs 13,233 crore in the same quarter a year ago. For the first quarter of FY22, the company’s operational revenues increased by over 58 per cent to touch Rs 1.44 lakh crore, when compared to the same period a year ago. The company’s revenues in the oil to chemical business went up 75 per cent, on the back of an increase in PVC, polyethylene and polypropylene prices, apart from the global crude prices going up. Brent price went up over 18 per cent for the June quarter.

It may be recalled that in Q2 of fiscal year 2021, Reliance Industries recorded a drop of 15 per cent in its net profits, which was Rs 9567 crore when compared to Rs 11,262 crore in the same quarter the previous year. Further, revenue in the second quarter of fiscal year 2021 also slipped to Rs 1.2 lakh crore when compared to the Rs 1.56 lakh crore in the same quarter of FY20. The drop in net profit and revenue was attributed to the crash in demand at the company’s oil refinery and petrochemical segments.

Conclusion

Reliance Industries has found the 155th place in the Fortune Global 500 list of companies for 2021, dropping 59 places. The company’s revenue for the fiscal year ended 2021 stood at $63 billion, dropping by 25 percent, because of the impact of the pandemic. It may be recalled that Reliance broke into the top 100 of the Fortune 500 companies globally for 2020, occupying the 96th place.