Two Bangalore companies have made it to the list of the world's top 50 most innovative companies drawn up by US business magazine Fast Company. Narayana Hrudayalaya, founded by heart surgeon Dr Devi Shetty, and Red Bus, the online bus ticket booking business founded by Phanindra Sama and his BITS Pilani peers, are the only two Indian companies which feature in business magazine Fast Company’s The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies list.

Dr Shetty's venture grabbed the 36th spot on the list which includes power companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Paypal, NFL, Starbucks, Siemens AG, HBO. Red Bus is placed 48th .

"Narayana Hrudayalaya is Walmart meets Mother Teresa," says the magazine of Dr Shetty's get-well empire which stretches across 150 centres in India & Africa and puts telemedicine at the heart of its operations by making optimum use of the internet.

Red Bus gets its spot "for taking the wheel of the $2.5 billion dollar Indian bus travel industry," the magazine says, adding that the online business services more than 10,000 routes and managed to add 4.25 million passengers in 2011.

Though Red Bus does not get into the top ten global internet companies, Narayana Hrudayalaya grabs the second spot in the healthcare category.

Narayana Hrudayalaya grabs the top spot among India's top ten innovative companies, followed by Red Bus. Flipkart, Eko, Tata Motors, Wipro, Adani Group, Tree House Education, Nandi Community and ITC take the spots thereafter.

The magazine - launched in November 1995 and managed by Alan Webber and Bill Taylor, two former Harvard Business Review editors - says that "by thinking differently about everything, from the unusually high number of patients it treats to the millions for whom it provides insurance, and by thinking a lot like the world's largest retailer, the hospital group is able to continually wring out costs".

Date: 17-Feb-2012