The All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce published its "Top 500 China Privately-Owned Enterprises in 2021", "Top 500 China Privately-Owned Manufacturers in 2021", and "Top 100 China Privately-Owned Service Firms in 2021" lists in Changsha, Hunan province, on Sept 25.

A total of 96 Zhejiang-based companies made the top 500 private-sector companies, the highest number among all Chinese provinces for the 23rd consecutive year.

Zhejiang was also home to 97 entries in the top 500 private-sector manufacturers and 12 entries in the top 100 private-sector service firms.

The aforementioned three lists are based on a nationwide survey of large-scale private-sector companies, with the rankings determined by corporate operating revenues in 2020.

The annual sales figure thresholds for a company to enter the three lists were 23.5 billion yuan ($3.63 billion), 10.05 billion yuan, and 32.276 billion yuan, respectively.

The 14 Zhejiang-based companies with annual sales exceeding 100 billion yuan were, in order: Alibaba (644.2 billion yuan), Geely (325.6 billion yuan), Rongsheng (308.6 billion yuan), Tsingshan (292.8 billion yuan), Hengyi (266 billion yuan), Hailiang (196.4 billion yuan), Duofu (190.9 billion yuan), Tianneng (164.7 billion yuan), Chilwee (128.2 billion yuan), Wanxiang (126.7 billion yuan), Zhongtian (120.6 billion yuan), Transfar (111.7 billion yuan), Youngor (104.8 billion yuan), and Jintian (103.8 billion yuan).

Another 18 Zhejiang-based companies, headed by Chint, had annual sales falling between 50 billion yuan and 100 billion yuan.

The 96 Zhejiang-based companies together earned 6.27 trillion yuan in 2020, up 11.64 percent from the previous year. In total, they employed 1.7 million people and their aggregrate R&D expenditures rose by 15.73 percent year-on-year.

The headquarters of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group is in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province [Photo by Niu Jing/For China Daily]