In an age of pivots, where business models are hit overnight by external factors like Trump’s tariffs or domestic policies like the ban on real-money gaming, Business Today’s annual ranking of India’s top-performing companies has also pivoted after 33 long years.
We have moved from ranking by market capitalisation to a single primary metric that investors prize—that of profitability.
Why this switch? A list based purely on market cap does not fully capture real profitability and cash flows, the size of free float and control, the burden of debt versus cash, or the distortions that accompany hype cycles. Investors don’t own “size”, they own a claim on future profits.
While earnings can be cyclical or subject to accounting practices, profitability remains the clearest, most comparable signal of a sustainable business and performance of a management team. This renewed focus on the bottom line comes in Trumpian times, where uncertainty in doing business forces chief executives to privilege cash-generation over valuation optics. It is this reality of the power of profit that is captured by Prince Tyagi in the data spread for this edition.
Methodology matters, and, as Rahul Oberoi explains, nothing is permanent. The rankings were derived from a master list of 5,100 listed firms, of which over 4,000 were profitable during financial year 2024-25. After excluding 240 thinly traded firms, the top 500 were arrived at by consolidating the FY25 profit after tax. For context, we have also reported year-on-year profit change, one-year average market cap, profitability ratios, as well as shareholding patterns in the data spread in this edition.
The numbers tell the story. The total net profit of the top 500 in the BT ranking rose 11% YoY to Rs 16.9 lakh crore ($200 billion) in FY25. Of these, 40 companies reported net profit exceeding Rs10,000 crore.
What did this fresh approach throw up? A big surprise: five central public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the top 10. Long criticised as laggards, they are no pushovers clearly. While oil-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries remains No. 1 for the 11th straight year, it is followed by the country’s largest lender, State Bank of India; private-sector lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank; infotech giant Tata Consultancy Services; Life Insurance Corporation of India, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Coal India, Bharti Airtel and Power Finance Corporation. This 50:50 split underscores the expanded role of the public sector even as private champions continue to lead the rankings.
As Krishna Gopalan writes, a key reason for the resurgence of India’s public sector is Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraging them to invest based on a more rational capital-allocation strategy. Thinking at scale, normally associated with private sector ambition, is also credited with accelerating the transformation. As Tata Consultancy Services’ K. Krithivasan mentions—building a strong and robust balance sheet makes a significant difference.
In a volatile environment, focusing on earnings cuts through the noise, and, this year, it reshapes the leaderboard.
Profits beat everything, and this edition of BT500 shows why.
