Just five sectors accounted for almost 100 per cent of the net profits and 56 per cent of the revenues of 11,167 unlisted companies in 2001-02. The sectors are insurance, financial and leasing services, trading, energy and telecommunication.

A Business Standard Research Bureau study based on data compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy shows that the top five sectors reported net profits of Rs 29,547 crore (Rs 295.47 billion).

The figure for all the unlisted companies put together was Rs 29,904 crore (Rs 299.04 billion). The total income (sales and other income) of these five sectors was Rs 238,521 crore (Rs 425,897 crore for the full sample).

The study further shows that the top five accounted for 76.3 per cent of the total borrowings of all unlisted companies, 69.4 per cent of the interest costs paid and 77.9 per cent of the total capital employed by 11,617 unlisted firms.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India dominates the unlisted companies, accounting for 17.32 per cent of the revenues and 60.89 per cent of aggregate net profits.

LIC's total income at Rs 73,780 crore (Rs 737.8 billion) in 2001-02 increased by 34.7 per cent compared to the previous year and net profits increased 59.8 per cent to Rs 12,157 crore (Rs 121.57 billion).

In the financial sector, banks clearly towered over non-banking finance companies, chit funds, financial institutions and leasing service companies. Unlisted banks accounted for 75.4 per cent of the total income and 85.4 per cent of the net profits of 3,679 unlisted companies in the financial sector.

Third on the list of top revenue generating sectors are the 1,400 trading companies, with a total income of Rs 38,462 crore (Rs 384.62 billion) in 2001-02, up a modest 4.9 per cent over the previous year.

Falling margins and the high cost of working capital -- interest cost was up 59.2 per cent -- resulted in the sector posting an aggregate net loss of Rs 342 crore (Rs 3.42 billion) in 2001-02 compared to a net profit of Rs 69 crore (Rs 690 million) in 2000-01.

Forty eight unlisted energy companies, mainly public sector undertakings, recorded flat growth in revenues and a modest 5.2 per cent rise in net profits in 2001-02. The National Thermal Power Corporation is the largest among these energy companies, with a total income of Rs 19,655 crore (Rs 196.55 billion) and net profit of Rs 3,540 crore (Rs 35.4 billion) in 2001-02.

The telecommunication sector was the fifth largest sector in the sample and Bharat Sanchar Nigam was way ahead of the rest, accounting for 83.9 per cent of the sector's total income and almost all of its net profits.

BSNL was also the most profitable company in the sector with a net profit of Rs 6,312 crore (Rs 63.12 billion). The total revenue of the telecom sector increased 112 per cent in 2001-02 largely on account of BSNL's 136.8 per cent revenue growth.