NEW DELHI: It's the first time the two stars of the new economy, telecom and IT, have managed to enter what was until now an exclusive preserve of the old economy.

The fantastic four of new age India Inc-- Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, TCS and Infosys--have finally made it to corporate India’s ‘Ivy League’, where the only way to gain admission is to post profits of over a billion dollars.

The four companies figure in ET Intelligence Group’s latest list of 10 companies that generated more than $1 billion in net profit (PAT) during FY08 based on available results.

Last year, a mere six companies made the cut. With only about 1,000 companies having declared results so far, there is a good chance the list could see many more new entrants this time.

A comparison between telecom and IT throws up some interesting facts about how these two new economy bellwethers got to the billion dollar club. Though the two sectors have entered the list simultaneously, this mammoth milestone was achieved much quickly by the two telecom moghuls Bharti and RCOM than their IT counterparts Infosys and TCS.

This reflects the breathtaking pace at which the telecom revolution has taken place, given that it was software and not telecom that was at the helm of the new age economy for much of the last two decades. Bharti, incorporated in 1995, took 13 years to reach the mark, while RCOM took just about four years after its separation from the Reliance group in 2004.

Even if one were to consider 2001, when the Reliance group decided to venture into telecom, as the starting point, RCOM has taken just over seven years to post a billion dollars in profit.

In contrast, it has been a long march for IT. TCS, which was incorporated in 1968, has taken over four decades while Infy took over a quarter of a century to reach the milestone.

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