Indian companies' sales growth has soared past the rest of the world in the

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past five years, posting annual average rises of 27% compared to just 5% for firms in developed countries, an Ernst and Young survey found.

Indian sales growth was also far higher than the average of 16% for the developing world as a whole, according to the 2006-2010 study which compared the performance of 150 companies in rapid-growth markets with 80 leading US and European firms.

"Some of these gains [in developing countries] are due to the exceptional growth of their domestic economies. Others have benefited from rising raw materials prices, particularly mining and oil and gas companies," Ernst & Young said.

"Developed market companies suffered more from the financial crisis than those from rapid-growth markets. Except for a knock against exports, the economic downturn was experienced as a distant concern in the rapid-growth markets.

After India, Brazilian companies saw the next fastest growth of with a 22% rise on a compounded annual average basis, followed by Russia and China with 17% each.

Malaysian, Polish, Indonesian and South African firms also enjoyed double-digit sales growth, the study showed.

Companies from the developing world also enjoyed better operating margins, posting an average of 24% compared with 18% for the developed market companies.

Ernst & Young said that while lower labour costs and lighter regulation were partly behind the better margin performance, it added: "Margins are also increasingly being driven by the fact that many of these companies are now world-class operations that command real intellectual property."

Moreover, the study found that 31% of the world's top 1000 companies by market capitalisation now come from the rapid-growth markets. This is up from 10% in 2000.