China reveals latest Top 500 Enterprises list

The annual Top 500 Enterprises of China list was jointly published by the China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors Association on Sunday in Nanchang, east China’s Jiangxi Province.

According to the 2017 Top 500 Chinese Enterprises list, China's largest 500 firms have generated a staggering combined revenue of 64 trillion yuan (9.9 trillion US dollars), an increase of 7.64 percent from the previous year, reversing a two-year slowing trend. 

State Grid Corp of China topped the list, with revenue of 2.1 trillion yuan, followed by China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, China National Petroleum Corp and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, whose revenues surpassed the trillion yuan mark. The lowest revenue number on the list was 28.3 billion yuan, representing an increase of nearly 4 billion yuan year-on-year.

A separate report accompanying the list reflects China's focus on infrastructure as well as a trend in business mergers. The number of manufacturing companies represented on the list is 245, up from the 222 in 2013. A total of 148 companies on the list conducted almost 1,500 merger or restructuring activities, more than double the amount seen last year. 

Research and development efforts remain high among top Chinese enterprises, with 414 of them reported to have invested more than 735.9 billion yuan in the area, an increase of 11.02 percent from the previous year, the report noted.