The organization released the latest list of its 500 largest firms last week, gauging them on the basis of revenue generated in the year before, according to Financial Tribune.
As per the ranking, Bank Mellat was the largest bank, and fourth largest company. Mellat's total sales (services) amounted to 435 trillion rials ($3.3 billion) during the studied period. Bank Saderat Iran and Bank Tejarat were next with 247 trillion rials ($1.9 billion) and 219 trillion rials ($1.7 billion), respectively.
Parsian Bank was fourth with 128 trillion rials ($1.6 billion) of sales in 2018-19 and the 13th largest company. The lender was Iran's largest bank and the second largest company in previous year's ranking.
Bank Pasargad Iran, Refah Bank (state-owned), Bank Keshavarzi (state-owned), Saman Bank, EN Bank and Karafarin Bank were the other banks with substantial revenue during the fiscal year that ended in March 2019.
IMI's list of the 20 largest companies in Iran has been largely dominated by banks in the recent past. However, this year Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, Esfahan Oil Refining Company and Bandar Abbas Oil Refining Company were the largest firms.
Banks held six spots in the top 20 largest firms this year, whereas they had held nine places last year.
Banking remained Iran's largest business sector, as the lenders together accounted for 18% of total sales in the said period.
The banking industry is the largest business sector in terms of assets, with 51% of the top 500 companies' total assets; and 19% of the total jobs created by the 500 top companies.
Insurance and Payment Firms
According to IMI, Dey Insurance, affiliated to Dey Bank, was Iran's largest insurance company in terms of sales in March 2018-19. The company was 37th on IMI's list of largest companies.
Asia Insurance, Dana Insurance and Alborz Insurance, all privatized companies, were the next three.
Asan Pardakht Persian, a leading payment service provider, was the largest Iranian firm in tech and payment companies’ ranking. It was the 50th largest company in Iran during the period under review.
Behsazan Farda, affiliated to Bank Mellat, and Shaparak, affiliated to the Central Bank of Iran, came in second and third, respectively.