The small companies, as defined by Forbes, are ones with an annual turnover of less than $500 million.

The inclusion of Western Hatcheries and Hindustan Sanitaryware has come as a surprise as both companies are relatively small in size as compared to others included in the list. Western Hatcheries and Britannia Industries are the only companies to have featured on the top 100 list in the poultry and baked goods segment.

Similarly, Hindustan Sanitaryware of India and Maax of Canada (ranked 34) are the only companies from the bathroom fixtures industry featured in the top 100 list.

The return on equity of the Indian companies is among the highest on the top 100 list for the simple reason that equity base in case of Indian companies is relatively small. Most of the companies in Europe and the US have been been frequentlygoing for stock splits thereby resulting in equity swelling. This has resulted in relatively lower return on equity. The Indian companies, on the other hand, have been very conservative when it comes to share splits (bonus).

The biggest surprise is the non-inclusion of even a single internet stock, which is being tipped as the hottest stock on international bourses. The reason, Forbes claims, is that the magazine applies strict financial performance standards for its exclusive club. Forbes ranking require a five-year average annual growth in earnings of 10 per cent, which no Web company can come close to in order to qualify as a candidate.

Another dominant feature in this year's ranking is the emergence of Europe in a big way, excluding the UK, as as many as 42 companies from Ireland and Poland feature in the Forbes' rankings. Asia, which is still recovering from the 1997 turmoil, is scarcely represented on the list. The few Asian companies which made it to the list have export-driven businesses whichcapitalised on weak currencies.

The software craze is equally prevalent in the overseas markets and as many as 11 companies are engaged in the software development or consultancy business.

Forbes has used the software from FactSet Research systems and has scanned more than 12,000 foreign companies from almost 34 countries. `Small' refers to companies with an annual turnover of less than $500 million and `Best' means current return-on-equity (RoE) of atleast 10 per cent and a five-year average RoE of at least 10 per cent. The companies in the final list are the ones with atleast 15 per cent net income growth and a 15 per cent revenue growth in the latest fiscal year-on top of a 10 per cent five-year annual average growth in net income and sales.