MANILA, Philippines - Asia’s economic powerhouses China and India have tied for top place with the most number of firms on Forbes Asia’s Fab 50 List, with both countries accounting for more than 60% of the firms on the 2010 list.

Forbes Asia's Fab 50 list is an annual roster of the best 50 big-capitalization and profitable companies in the region. 

China,  which has topped the list since 2008, held steady with 16 entries, unchanged from last year. Of these, 10 firms are returnees including Lenovo Group. The  company commands the biggest share of the PC market in China, and makes the list for the fourth time after dropping out last year.

Also returning to the list are 2 other Chinese technology companies: Digital China Holdings and Tencent Holdings.

India also had 16 entries on the list, compared with 13 last year and only 3 when the inaugural Fab 50 List was published in 2005. A lot of Indian companies displayed staying power with 11 firms returning to the list.

Perennial top performer Infosys Technologies joins the roster for the sixth straight year. Making their appearance for the fifth consecutive time are Bharat Heavy Electricals, HDFC Bank and Larsen & Toubro. Other Indian returnees include ITC and Axis Bank.

Despite being named this year's richest man in the Philippines, the conglomerate of tycoon Henry Sy, SM Investments Corp., did not make it to the top 50.

The companies of another Filipino businessman included in Forbes'billionaire list this year, beer and airline magnate Lucio Tan, also did not make the cut.

The Fab 50 List appears in the latest issue of Forbes Asia. The 50 firms were picked  from a shortlist of 936 that had revenues or market capitalization of at least $3 billion as of September 1, 2010, and a 5-year record for revenue, operating earnings and return on capital. Other criteria included recent financial result, share price movement and outlook.

This year, Hong Kong and Taiwan tied for third place with 4  companies each.

Hong Kong’s Li & Fung is the other firm apart from Infosys that has made the Fab 50 in all 6 years since the list began. Taiwan’s Acer, the world’s number 2 PC maker, has made the list every year except in 2006.

Coming in fifth is South Korea with 3 entries: Glovis, NHN and Samsung Engineering. Following behind are Australia and Japan with 2  entries each while Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand rounded off the list with one entry each.

The number of Japanese firms making the cut has declined over the years since the list started in 2005. Japan topped the inaugural list with 13 firms but since then its entries have dwindled along with the  country’s economic stagnation.

This year’s Fab 50 List includes 18 new faces. Dongfang Electric, one of 6  new Chinese companies on the list, makes power-generation equipment and has produced more boilers, turbines and generators than any other company in the world.

Its president Wen Shugang tells Forbes Asia how his Sichuan-based company survived the devastating earthquake in 2008 in the latest issue of the magazine.

Another notable new entry is Thai coal miner Banpu, which has been steadily  expanding overseas for 12 years. Its revenue grew 20% last year to $1.7 billion, and profits jumped 61% to $427 million.

The Fab 50 companies will be honored at an award ceremony and dinner in Bangkok,  Thailand on December 8 2010.

FORBES ASIA FAB 50 LIST
(in alphabetical order)

China
Agile Property Holdings
Changsha Zoomlion Heavy Industry
China Mengniu Dairy
Digital China Holdings
Dongfang Electric
GD Midea Holding
Gree Electric Appliances
Hengan International Group
Lenovo Group
SAIC Motor
Sany Heavy Industry
Shandong Gold Mining
Suning Appliance
Tencent Holdings
Tingyi Holding
Want Want China Holdings
India
Adani Enterprises
Axis Bank
Bharat Heavy Electricals
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories
HCL Technologies
HDFC Bank
Hindalco Industries
Infosys Technologies
ITC
Jindal Steel & Power
JSW Steel
Kotak Mahindra Bank
Larsen & Toubro
Mahindra & Mahindra
Sterlite Industries
Tata Consultancy Services
Hong Kong
Belle International Holdings
Li & Fung
Nine Dragons Paper Holdings
Noble Group
Taiwan
Acer
China Life Insurance
HTC
Mediatek
South Korea
Glovis
NHN
Samsung Engineering
Australia
Rio Tinto
Wesfarmers
Japan
Nintendo
Rakuten
Indonesia
Bank Central Asia
Singapore
Olam International
Thailand
Banpu