China may be the world’s factory, but Indian companies, led by software giants TCS and Infosys, continue to outshine and dominate the annual ranking of big-cap, profitable companies in Asia. Up to 12 Indian companies made it to the third annual Forbes Asia Fabulous 50 list, followed by Taiwan with 10 and China with seven, Forbes Asia said in a press release.

Four of India’s IT outsourcing companies, including the biggest Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that writes software for leading American firms, made the cut.

TCS’s revenues leapt 45 per cent in the last year and its market capitalisation has doubled since listing three years ago to cross the $27 billion mark, the release said.

TCS earns nearly all of its revenues overseas but will move some of its work back to India, it said. The 12 Indian companies on the Forbes Asia ‘fabulous 50’ list are: Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bharti Airtel, Grasim Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries, Satyam Computer Services, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel and Wipro.

Most of the Indian firms on the list, however, did not have to leave home to find success, the release noted. With a relatively young population of 1.1 billion, India has its own huge market.

Companies like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel are growing fast by reaching out to the country’s rural customers, not to western markets. Others, such as Grasim, Larsen & Toubro and Reliance, are shoring up the country’s infrastructure at a furious pace.