HUL, TCS, Sun Pharma in Forbes list of world's most innovative firms

Three Indian companies, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Sun Pharma Industries made it to the list of world's 100 most innovative companies by Forbes.

While Tesla Motors topped the Forbes List of ‘The World’s Most Innovative Companies’, HUL was ranked 41, TCS at 64 and Sun Pharma stood at 71th position.

Elon Musk’s California-Based Tesla Motors has a market capitalization of USD 25.5 billion. He inherited "Steve Jobs' mantle as the cult favourite CEO. And his electric car company has grabbed Apple's creative crown”.

Forbes said companies are ranked by their innovation premium, which is the difference between their market capitalisation and a net present value of cash flows from existing businesses.

Companies need seven years of public financial data and USD 10 billion in market cap to be included in the list.

On FMCG company, Hindustan Unilever, Forbes said the company had over 35 brands spanning 20 distinct categories.

Meanwhile, this is the eighth time that India's largest IT company TCS, with a market cap of USD 80.3 billion, has appeared on the list. The company took a major step toward bolstering its digital services when last month it announced a training program in digital technologies for a third of its workforce.

Forbes stated that in the past year, TCS crossed the milestone of employing 100,000 women, meaning that one out of three employees is now a woman.

For Sun Pharma, which had a market cap USD 39 billion and India's largest drugs company, this is the fourth time it has been included in the list.

Billionaire Dilip Shanghvi - who owns more than half the company - pipped Mukesh Ambani earlier this year to become the richest man in India.

The list also includes software company salesforce.com on the second spot, followed by Amazon (8), Hermes International (22), Netflix (27), MasterCard (36), Starbucks (45), Adobe (74), Coco Cola (81) and Cognizant (96).