As tribute to the country’s economic growth, India made the most gains on the FA100 list this year, bringing five of the 15 new companies that joined the list. A decade of reforms, greater competition and marked improvements in business efficiency are holding off the unwelcome tremors created by the global economic slowdown and last month’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai. While the country’s 2009 growth figures have been revised down from 9% to approximately 7%, India is still on course to perform as one of the world’s stronger economies.

As a result, the Indian companies new to the FA100 span several sectors including telecoms, natural resources, technology and real estate. 

India is the world’s second largest mobile telephone market so the inclusion of Reliance Communications is no surprise. Despite the country’s slowing economy, mobile subscriber numbers continued to gain momentum throughout the year and at the end of September Reliance Communications had more than 56 million wireless customers. As well as wireless, the company is also making a play for direct-to-home television services. In August, Reliance Communications forecast that its new satellite television operation would have a market-dominating 40% share in 12 months in a market that research firm Media Partners Asia forecasts to grow to 25 million subscribers by 2012.

One of the keys for India’s growth is its need for natural resources, which explains the addition of Sterlite Industries and Hindustan Zinc. Both come under their parent, the UK-listed Vedanta Resources, which has aluminium, copper and zinc operations in India and Australia. In May, Sterlite, the country’s leading producer of copper, launched the biggest takeover by an Indian company of a US asset when it offered $2.6 billion for the bankrupt copper producer Asarco.

For the first time, India’s neighbour Pakistan joined the FA100 when state-owned Oil & Gas Development made the list. The company beat analysts’ forecasts when net sales for  Oil & Gas Development increased by more than 48% to PRs 41,384 million ($530 million) for the quarter ended September.

Also in the power sector was Hong Kong & China Gas, which has interests in both Hong Kong and the mainland. In August Hong Kong & China Gas priced a $1 billion 10-year bond making it the first Asian non-government-linked corporate issuer to print an investment grade deal of this size since 2003.

In the conglomerate sector, compatriots Hutchison Whampoa, Jardine Strategic and Jardine Matheson were all new this year.

Hutchison Whampoa scored a top-20 place and its diverse holdings in property, retail, infrastructure and telecommunications should stand it in good stead to weather the storm of a weakening Hong Kong economy with reduced growth forecasts. China’s $586 billion stimulus package is a source of optimism as its hoped it encourages confidence to seep into associated markets. Still Hutchison Whampoa’s turnover was HK$176 billion ($22.7 billion) for the six months ended June 30,  and it’s hoped that its telecom business will continue to enjoy the kind of growth that saw its subscriber base rise 68%.

Korea, which fielded the most companies on the FA100 list had two new entrants, Daewoo Engineering & Construction, which is the country’s largest construction company and, from the huge Hyundai stable, Hyundai Heavy Industries. Though best known as the world’s biggest shipbuilder, last year Hyundai Heavy Industries made a bid to enter the wind power market. In October it signed a deal to licence wind turbines with which it first hopes to target the American wind power business, one of the world’s largest such markets.