Front page heroes

Ultimately, this is what news is all about—being featured on the front pages of leading dailies and the cover of leading magazines, such as ours.

It is this matrix, more than any other, that sets out the leaders of Indian industry. Who, or rather, which companies score the highest on this count? In 2007, mobile telephony market leader Bharti Airtel muscled its way to the top of the heap, jumping 16 places from #17 the previous year.

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The obvious reasons are its continued leadership in one of the most written about sectors of the Indian economy and its decision, late last year, to unlock the value of its towers business by hiving it off into a separate company.

Last year’s leader, Reliance Industries, clocks in at #2, while the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, which was numero dos in 2006, has fallen 18 places to #20, though group company Reliance Communications ranks #6. Two Tata Group companies, Tata Motors and Tata Steel, come in at #3 and #7, respectively, no doubt because of their global gambits (Jaguar-Land Rover and Corus) and the lead-up to the former’s launch of the Nano. That apart, there are no surprises in this list.