State Power tops China's 500 list
( 2002-08-30 10:16 ) (1 )

The State Power Corporation of China secured the No 1 spot in the list of the country's top 500 businesses of 2001 courtesy of an operational income of about 400 billion yuan (US$48 billion).

The top 11 Chinese performers also entered the list of the world's top 500 businesses, according to the United States-based financial magazine Fortune. Only three Chinese businesses were on the Fortune list in 1995.

"China's enterprises have developed a lot but they are still lagging behind the world giants," a report on the development of Chinese enterprises said.

The local list was jointly released in Beijing Thursday day by the China Enterprise Confederation and the China Enterprise Directors Association. They also issued the annual Chinese enterprise development report.

A two-day top 500 forum opened yesterday, attracting officials, researchers and entrepreneurs. Hu Shuxin, vice-president of the confederation, said the emphasis has been put on the disparity between China and the world's top 500 enterprises in this year's report.

In terms of its operational income in 2001, the State Power Corporation earned just 22 per cent of retail giant Wal-Mart's income, the best performer among the world's top 500.

The average net profit of the world's top 500 enterprises was US$612 million. The average of China's top 500 was only equivalent to US$36,926. The net income of the top 500 Chinese enterprises was only 12.09 per cent of the total income of the world's top 500.

Despite the disparity, the government has decided to encourage the development of China's top businesses.

Earlier this year, the State Council decided to give special support to 30-50 key enterprises to sharpen their international competitiveness.

"The decision is the response from the central government to the increasingly competitive globalized market," Chen Jinhua, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said yesterday at the opening.

"It is also an important strategy to cope with the impact the nation's World Trade Organization accession is likely to bring."

Chen said China has already fostered a group of businesses that will be strong competitors in the world market in the years to come.

"They are already capable of competing with other international companies," he said.

The State will encourage the groups to seek capital from overseas exchange markets.

"The measure will help them perfect their corporate governance and face pressure from stock holders and markets," Chen said.