RIL among world's 100 most respected cos

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries [Get Quote] has made it to the annual list of the world's 100 most respected companies compiled by the Wall Street Journal, topped by US-based healthcare products major Johnson & Johnson.

Ranked 83rd, RIL is the only Indian company on the list, although there are three more companies led by persons of Indian origin -- PepsiCo, ArcelorMittal and Citigroup.

J&J is followed by FMCG giant Procter & Gamble, Japanese auto maker Toyota Motor, legendary investor Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway and technology giant Apple in the top five positions.

While Berkshire has slipped from its first position last year, J&J has moved up from its second place in 2007 list. Toyota has retained its third place, while Apple and P&G have improved on their previous year rankings.

Besides, Google (6th), Wal-Mart (7th), Coca-Cola (8th), PepsiCo (9th) and Nestle [Get Quote] (10th) also figure among the top-ranked companies.

As part of the fourth annual survey, Wall Street Journal asked money managers to indicate the degree to which they respect or don't the 100 largest publicly traded companies, as measured by total market value.

According to the survey, 74 per cent respondents said they 'highly respect' J&J, 23 per cent said they 'respect', 3 per cent said 'respect somewhat' but none said they 'don't respect' the company making it the top-ranked company.

About RIL, 4 per cent considered the company as highly respected, 17 per cent said they 'respect' it, 46 per cent responded saying they 'respect somewhat', while 11 per cent said they 'don't respect' the firm.

The publication said it assigned a point each to the four categories highly respect, respect, respect somewhat and don't respect to determine mean scores, using the percentage of highly respect to break ties.

Telecom giant Vodafone Group (UK) has been ranked at the 66th spot.

Beverages major Pepsico headed by India-origin Indra Nooyi has gone up three places to the ninth position from the previous year's ranking.

However, arch rival Coca-Cola is one place ahead of PepsiCo at the eighth spot.

Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal-led ArcelorMittal (France) has moved up 33 spots to corner the 60th rank. In last year's ranking, the company was placed at the 93rd position.

Further, banking behemoth Citigroup has dropped in its ranking to the 99th spot from the previous year's 53rd place.