Voltas Limited

Voltas is now at the top of the list of 'India's most investor-friendly companies', published every year by Business Today.

The ranking is based on numerous criteria pertaining to policies and practices beneficial to investors, as well as overall performance norms.

To summarise the qualifying requirements, and the elimination and judging process followed by Business Today:

ENTRY QUALIFICATIONS

Entry limited to companies listed on BSE and NSE, with market capitalization exceeding Rs 250 crores on 30 June '08
From these, further limited to companies with daily turnover exceeding Rs 1 crore on NSE & BSE combined
Further limited to companies which outperformed the BT 50 index for each of the last three years
Eliminated companies whose shares were not traded on July 1, 2005; or which listed after June 30, 2008.

JUDGING PARAMETERS

35 marks out of 100 for return to investors. Measured by share price appreciation over last 3 years (adjusted for rights/bonus issues). More than 1000% return (total, not annualised) received the full 35 marks
65 marks out of 100 for investor care, measured by 4 norms:
- regular dividend distribution (full marks if average payment over last 3 years exceeded 100%)
- timely disclosure of shareholder information (full marks for under 10-day gap between quarter ending and results declaration)
- low rate of investor complaints: zero marks if more than one complaint per Rs 1 crore of public holding
- timely convening of AGM: full marks if within 60 days of financial year ending

Based on this rigorous scrutiny, Voltas is in the top five of their ranking.