Dun & Bradstreet-AmEx Corporate Awards 2006

D&B felicitates 20 of India's biggest corporate names and highest performers from 58 sectors

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Monday, August 21, 2006 -- (Business Wire India)

HIGHLIGHTS

--Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), the world's leading provider of business information, and American Express, present the Dun & Bradstreet - American Express Corporate Awards 2006 in association with Singapore Tourism Board, Lenovo and Kingfisher Airlines

--Mr. M. Damodaran, Chairman of SEBI launches the 2006 edition of the premier Dun & Bradstreet publication "India's Top 500 companies"

--The Awards ceremony attended by over 300 chiefs of India's most prestigious companies

Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), the world's leading provider of global business information, knowledge and insight, recently announced and presented the 'Dun & Bradstreet - American Express Corporate Awards 2006'. The occasion marked the launch of the premier Dun & Bradstreet India (D&B India) publication, India's Top 500 Companies 2006 by Mr M. Damodaran, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The base universe of the companies considered for the Dun & Bradstreet - American Express Corporate Awards 2006 were the top 500 companies of India as covered under the publication. The Awards were organized in association with Singapore Tourism Board, Lenovo and Kingfisher Airlines.

Mr David Emery, President, International Partnerships and Asia Pacific, Dun & Bradstreet, said, "Since 1997, only 50% of companies in the Top 500 have been common across all editions, thus highlighting that the Indian corporate sector is in churn. I am very happy to note that most of tonight's award winning companies have featured in all editions of India's Top 500 Companies over the past decade."

Dr Manoj Vaish, President & CEO - India, Dun & Bradstreet, said "The Dun & Bradstreet - American Express Corporate awards tonight recognize the twin virtues of size and growth in the organizations of corporate India. A vital factor observed among companies who have managed to retain their position among the Top 500 has been their strength to compete and their commitment towards quality and efficiency. Many have extended their reach to overseas markets and are in the process of restructuring and consolidation."

Dun & Bradstreet's "India's Top 500 Companies 2006" includes private sector companies listed on the BSE and NSE as well as public sector enterprises. The private sector companies have been short listed on the basis of their market capitalisation on the BSE and NSE, India's two main stock exchanges. The listed companies profiled account for over 75% of the BSE's market capitalisation while the total income of the Top 500 equals 50% of India's GDP. Another feature of the publication is the sectoral classification of companies based on revenues. A company should generate at least 35% of its revenue from a particular sector in order to be classified under that sector.

The publication "India's Top 500 Companies 2006" identified 58 sectors for classifying the companies, and the Dun & Bradstreet - American Express Corporate Awards 2006 felicitated the top company from 20 of the identified sectors. The awards methodology was applied to the list of top 500 companies, duly classified in their respective sectors. The D&B analyst team developed a proprietary financial model for identifying the top companies in each sector. D&B identified seven financial parameters for this purpose and assigned weights to them. Final rankings of the companies were based on a composite score of these weighted parameters. The seven parameters considered in ranking companies for awards are Total Income, Net Profit, Net Worth, Net Profit Margin, Net Profit/Net Worth, Growth in Total Income and Growth in Net Profit.

About Dun and Bradstreet (D&B):

D&B (NYSE:DNB), the world's leading provider of global business information, knowledge and insight, has enabled customers to Decide with Confidence for over 160 years. D&B's proprietary DUNSRight(tm) quality process provides customers with quality information whenever and wherever they need it. D&B manages the world's largest and most valuable commercial database of over 100 million companies. This database updated more than 1.5 million times a day is the foundation of D&B's solutions that customers rely on to make critical business decisions.

Customers use D&B Risk Management Solutions to mitigate risk, increase cash flow and drive increased profitability, D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions to analyse markets, locate prospects and increase revenue from new and existing customers; D&B Export Marketing Solutions to gain significant insight into overseas markets and increase sales; D&B Financial Education Solutions to facilitate professional growth and excellence among their executives and D&B Economic Analysis Group to derive pragmatic and solution-oriented analysis of strategic economic and business developments, thereby aiding informed decision making. For more information, please visit www.dnb.co.in

To view the list of recipients of the 'Dun & Bradstreet - American Express Corporate Awards 2006' and photographs, Please click on the links given below:

http://www.businesswireindia.com/attachments/Recipients_of_the_Awards.doc

http://www.businesswireindia.com/attachments/book_release.jpg

http://www.businesswireindia.com/attachments/Winners(2).jpg