India's Most Investor-Friendly Companies

Research and Markets ( http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/84bcc5/indias_most_inves) has announced the addition of the "India's Most Investor-Friendly Companies - 2008" report to their offering.
Until early this year, it didn't take much to make you happy if you were an equity investor. India seemed like the flavour of the decade, India Inc.'s flagbearers were snapping up big rivals elsewhere in the world, and Sensex at 25,000 was where we were all headed (gosh, all that seems so awfully long ago now). Cut to today, investors are licking their burnt fingers and swearing never to touch equity again. Not surprising at all. In a stock market that has plunged from 21,000-something to less than 15,000 now, there's hardly anyone - small or big investor - who hasn't lost money.
But it's equally true that equity provides the best returns over the long term. So, if you are in for the long haul, who should you be investing with? Which are the companies that treat their shareholders like kings? Which companies announce their results on time, hold their annual general meetings every year and, most importantly, have a history of paying dividends consistently?
Here comes a good list of investor-friendly companies to start with, if you are betting on stocks for the long term: Our fifth annual survey of companies that have delighted their shareholders the most. We know. You don't think there are any investor-friendly companies in this market. But in a world where performance is relative, there are some who managed to put a smile on their shareholders' faces.
Key Topics Covered:
We know. You think there are hardly any investor-friendly companies in this market. But there are some who have managed to put a smile on their shareholders' faces.
1. Digger of Black Gold: A ban offshore, India's largest private sector offshore oil services provider and tenth-largest player in the world, has shown an uncanny ability to take advantage of favourable market conditions to chart a rapid growth path...
2. An Integrated Play: Prices of coking coal, a key input for making steel, have almost doubled over the last one year, but there's no sweat on Vikram Gujral's brow. Sure, the Vice Chairman and CEO of Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) has been able to increase steel prices by around 35 per cent, but that's not the reason why he's in clover. Rather, JSPL has what not too many steel makers in the industry have: the advantage of having its own iron ore mines and a merchant power plant...
3. South's Lender of Choice: Consumer finance companies in India are generally either scaling down their business or shutting shop altogether, but not Shriram City Union Finance (SCUF). In sharp contrast, the Chennai-based consumer finance firm is bravely going where few of its competitors want to go...
...What also gives SCUF an edge over competitors is its robust chit funds business. Over the last 30 years, Shriram Chit Funds has acquired more than three lakh customers. That explains why SCUF managed to disburse consumer loans worth Rs 3,744 crore in 2007-08 alone...
4. It's a Cool One: It's the only consumer durables company in the top 10 and the only other air-conditioning company on our list. But here's the thing: Voltas, part of the Tata Group, isn't really a consumer durables company. Rather, it's an engineering solutions company that does everything from electrical work to temperature and ventilation control to manufacturing materials handling equipment...
5. Learning All the Right Moves: It's a company whose core business is not one that's instantly associated with money, but Mumbai-based Core Projects & Technologies, which provides end-to-end solutions in the education space globally, has business flowing in like never before...
6. The Oily Way to Success: With a turnover of more than Rs 2,000 crore in 2007-08 and a market cap in excess of Rs 1,800 crore, Morena-based KS Oils is a leading player in the country's edible oil industry. With a market share of 7 per cent in the overall mustard oil industry (valued at Rs 12,000 crore), the company controls a fourth of the organised mustard oil market in India...
7. Basking in Reflected Glory: If Guinness had entries for record stock performances, Jai Corp. would be a shoo-in. Over the last three years, Jai's stock price has meteored some 9,000 per cent - from Rs 4.63 in beginning of July 2005 to Rs 429 now (Aug 1; price adjusted for bonus and stock split). Needless to say, along the way, it has bumped its head against the Bombay Stock Exchange circuit breaker multiple times...
8. Colour of Money: When you are talking to ashwin Dani, Vice Chairman and MD of Asian Paints, don't ever use the word whitewash if you mean to say paint. Otherwise, the affable Dani will look at you in mock horror and take pains to explain the difference...
...Happily for Asian Paints' investors, Dani has been willing to put some money back in their pockets. Dividend payouts in the recent years have been more than 50 per cent of net profit...
9. Rising from the Bottom: In 2004, Modern shut its textiles business for good and became a real estate developer. Improved financials and a boom in real estate have resulted in Modern's stock soaring more than 1,800 per cent over the last three years...
10. Feeding Off the Steel Boom: The Goa-headquartered company, which has seen its profit grow from just Rs 26 crore on sales of Rs 668 crore in 2003 to Rs 1,548 crore on sales of Rs 3,871 crore in 2008, has rewarded investors handsomely...
11. Methodology

Companies Mentioned:

- Jindal Steel and Power
- Shriram City Union Finance
- Tata Group
- Voltas
- Core Projects & Technologies
- KS Oils
- Jai Corp
- Asian Paints
- Modern