Firms led by Sarin, Nooyi among world's 20 best

Reaffirming the now unmistakable presence of Indians in the World Inc, two multinationals PepsiCo and Vodafone, which are headed by people of India origin, have found a place in a list of the world's 20 best companies for leaders.

While Chennai-born Indra Nooyi is the Chairman and CEO of soft drink major PepsiCo, Arun Sarin, who hails from central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, is the CEO of the world's second largest mobile operator Vodafone.

Vodafone debuted at 20th rank in this year's list, prepared by consulting firm Hay Group and Chief Executive Magazine. PepsiCo is down to 7th position from its third rank last year.

In the 2006 list, Citigroup, now headed by another Indian origin banker Vikram Pandit, was ranked at fourth. However, it does not find a place in this year's list. Nagpur-born Pandit was named the CEO of Citigroup earlier this month, after his predecessor Charles Price stepped down last month.

American conglomerate General Electric has topped the list for the second year in a row, while Procter and Gamble has retained its second position this year.

The maximum number of companies are from the US (11), while eight are from Europe and one from Asia. There is not a single Indian company on the list.

The annual survey considered a total 790 companies, that included 47.1 per cent headquartered in Europe, 31.2 per cent in North America, 15 per cent in Asia-Pacific, and the rest in West Asia, Africa and South and Central America.

GE and P&G are followed by Johnson and Johnson, Unilever and Coca-Cola in the top five. Others are Siemens (6), L'Oreal (8), Toyota (9), HP (10), GlaxoSmithkline (11), Novartis (12), Pfizer (13), HSBC (14), 3M Co (15), Eli Lily (16), BASF (17), McDonald's (18) and Amgen (19).