Here is our list of the top ten highest valued companies from Brazil, Russia, India and China - the so-called BRIC group of emerging economic powers. Perhaps the most striking aspect of our rundown is the dominance of China. Seven of the ten firms listed here are Chinese, along with two Brazilian and a solitary Russian outfit, Gazprom.

Meanwhile the I in our BRIC is entirely absent - no Indian company makes it into our top 10. This reflects the heavy concentration of small and medium-sized businesses in the Indian economy, as well as its relatively late industrialisation, while India's decrepit infrastructure is another factor hampering its development.

For a quick comparison of the four BRIC countries, take a look at the World Bank's estimates here.

While India is yet to produce any global megacorporations, one can say with some confidence that China's unique version of command economy capitalism is successfully producing companies that can compete with US heavyweights, particularly in energy and finance. It is now home to the world's leading bank, telecoms and oil companies by market capitalisation.

That China's economy is both capitalistic and highly centrally orchestrated has been both a boon and a burden. On the one hand its state-controlled companies benefit from a significantly lower level of competition than their rivals in the West. On the other, the government routinely uses those same companies as instruments of its own policy.

1. ICBC

2.Petrochina

3.China Mobile

4.China Construction Bank

5.Petrobras-Petroleo Brazil

6.Bank of China

7.Vale

8. China Life Insurance

9.Gazprom

10.Sinopec-China Petroleum