"These were extraordinary times and deserve extraordinary questions to be asked in search of solutions from extraordinary people," he said. The McKinsey study divides the top 100 Indian companies into four categories -- the losers, the destroyers, the cruisers and the drivers.

The losers are companies that have shown a return on capital of less than 20 per cent. A higher return is a must for a company to earn the right to grow, De Boer said.

The destroyers are companies that have the required rate of returns on capital but have shown no growth. "These companies are not growing, and in effect are destroying the potential of growth," De Boer said.

"The cruisers have the multinationals in their ranks. MNCs who have been in Indiafor more than thirty years and are earning good returns on capital and yet are not growing at a rapid rate. They are growing, they are making money, but basically they are asleep. Asleep to the possibilities of rapid growth," De Boer added.

Of the top 100, only 20 companies are in the driver box, the category that is growing rapidly. De Boer said, "These are the companies that are driving the markets, the industry and creating growth in the economy."

"If we compare this to the US, we will find that less than 20 per cent of the companies will have not earned the right to grow, earning less than 20 per cent return on capital," he added.

De Boer said the companies in the losers category are the ones that are likely to slip out of the top 100 companies list in the course of the next five years.

De Boer cited TVS Suzuki as a company that has earned the right to grow. "When we looked at the industries, surprisingly, we found the two-wheelers industry at the top. Information technology came second," hesaid.

On TVS Suzuki, De Boer said: "The company came up from being a sick company to create strong brand positioning and intangible capital."

Anupam Puri, who heads McKinsey in India, later said at a press conference, "The most positive thing about the performance of the Indian companies is the performance by the software sector."

"For the American on the street today, India rings the software bell. Instead of the outdated image of tigers roaming on streets, today India is being associated with knowledge and brain power. This is doing a great deal for the country's image too," Puri said.

De Boer joined in to say, "We must now study the success stories. A lot of new companies have come into the top 100 list and we must study their success pattern, instead of concentrating on the ones that have slipped away from the top."

"The underpinning assumption that Indian companies are not competitive enough must change. There are beacons of light and the questions should be trying to search how the successstories are being written," he added.