IPL most innovative Indian company, RIL 3rd

The Indian Premier League has yet another feather in its cap.

American magazine FastCompany has ranked IPL 22nd among the list of the world's 50 most innovative companies for 2010.

FastCompany said that "IPL has transformed cricket, establishing a new model that shows how a nearly 500-year-old game can be revamped, restructured, and tailored to today's short attention spans and entertainment infrastructure -- and succeed wildly."

The mega sports event is the brainchild of Lalit Modi, the chairman and commissioner of IPL. For the record, IPL has been listed as the most innovative Indian company.

Brand Finance, an independent brand consultancy, has valued Brand IPL at $4.13 billion, more than double from last year.

Click NEXT to check out which are India's most innovative firms. . .

Brand Finance, which came out with IPL brand's latest valuation, said that the brand alone has risen significantly, providing tremendous economic value to its owner - BCCI.

It said this demonstrates the exponential value of IPL and the brand potential in a cricket loving country like India and other global cricketing countries. Although the English Premier League is valued much higher at $12 billion, the IPL's valuation has risen above $4 billion in just three years, Brand Finance pointed out.

In terms of brand value or valuation there could be bigger sports club in the West but most of those have negative cash flow, Modi said and pointed out that the English Premier League, though it commands a very high brand value, was facing a $800 million deficit.

"Here, we are talking about cash flow and it is growing to grow in future at IPL," he said, while detailing the dynamics of financing of IPL franchises.

Indian Premier League will not go for an initial public offer and listing on the stock exchanges for raising money. "Why should we go for an IPO? We don't want to raise money," Modi told PTI.

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Leading the list of the world's most innovative companies is Facebook at number 1, followed by Amazon (2nd), Apple (3rd), Google (4th), Huawei (5th), First Solar (6th), PG&E (7th), Novartis (8th), Walmart (9th), and HP (10th).

On Wednesday, Indian Premier League chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said that the league would generate a revenue of $1 billion this season, thanks to huge fan following across the globe, attracting a large number of advertisers.

"The tournament is still on and we have not reached the final number. Yes, it will be more than $1 billion (about Rs 4,700 crore) this season. Last season we did $450 million. "Thereafter, we would double every year," Modi told PTI and asserted that as long as the fans keep coming to IPL, the league's brand value would increase and hence the revenue.

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The only other Indian company the top 50 in the list is Indian technology start-up, VNL, which 'reverse-engineers telecom for the rural poor with solar-powered base stations that can be assembled onto a village home's rooftop by anybody and operational with mobile service within six hours'. VNL comes in at rank 39.

Petrochemicals-to-retail giant Reliance Industries is the third Indian company in the list of the world's most innovative companies. However, it does not feature among the top 50 worldwide.

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The Godrej Group is the fourth Indian conglomerate to feature in the list.

Narayana Hrudayalaya, which offers low-cost, high-quality heart surgeries, is the fifth Indian company on the list.

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel, which has just sealed a deal to buy Kuwait-based Zain Telecom, comes in at the sixth spot amongst India's most innovative firms.

Technology major Wipro is the seventh most innovative firms in India, according to FastCompany.

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FastCompany ranks A Little World, a Mumbai-based tech shop, in the 8th spot amongst India's most innovative companies. The magazine said that the company is "transforming the burgeoning mobile-payments sector with innovations that connect rural India to mainstream financial institutions."

Indian automobile major Mahindra & Mahindra ranks 9th amongst Indian firms, when it comes to innovation.

India's most famous technology company, Infosys Technologies, is the 10th most innovative Indian business house.