Indian Oil comes after five companies in South Korea, two in China, and one in Australia. The national oil company has been ranked 45th among all of Asia's commercial and industrial companies in terms of sales this year. Last year, the ``Asiaweek 1000'' count had placed Indian Oil in the 48th position.

Among the largest state enterprises, Indian Oil comes fourth after Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, China Petrochemical Corporation, and Sinochem. The first 10 companies in the Asiaweek list have retained their rankings this year.

The largest Asian corporate entity is Mitsui and Company, followed by Mitsubishi Corporation, Itochu Corporation, Marubeni Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation. Altogether, 20 domestic firms figure in the list of Asia's 1000 best, while Japanese corporates occupy 688positions, against 700 the previous year.

The Asiaweek survey has blamed a weak yen for the downfall of Japanese companies, but 1997-98 was not a good year for Asian companies as a whole. Cumulative sales of Asia's 1000 best corporates shrank to $5.47 trillion, $300 billion less than in the previous year.

Companies' profits shrank to $86.3 billion, from $112.4 billion. Japanese firms contributed 76 per cent to the combined sales, but only 42.6 per cent to the profits of the 1,000 companies in the list.

The Taiwanese, Singapore and Chinese economies showed the strongest gains. According to the magazine, in the coming year, Chinese and Indian businesses may turn out to be Asia's best performers.