Only three Indian brands among the ‘most attractive’
Tata, Bajaj and Patanjali are among the top 20 brands on the list.
Over 200 brands headquartered in the Delhi-NCR have made it to the top 1,000 list of attractive brands, prepared by TRA Research, a “Brand Intelligence and Data Insights Company”, and the Indian Statistical Institute for 2017.
Nine out of the top 20 brands on the list are headquartered in the Delhi-NCR. Companies like Samsung, Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, Sony, among others, are headquartered in Delhi-NCR and have made it to the top 20. However, surprisingly, only three Indian brands, the Tata group, Bajaj and Patanjali group, have been able to make it to the top 20 on the list for the most attractive brands in India, according to the TRA Research report.
This year, South Korean giant Samsung is the leading brand on the list of top 1,000 attractive brands in India, jumping up two positions from last year, leaving behind its competitors LG and Sony at second and third positions, respectively. Tata, after falling by almost three ranks in 2016, has emerged at the fourth position in 2017. Honda ranks fifth after rank- ing fourth in 2016. The sixth most attractive brand in 2017 is Apple, which has steadily climbed to this position after ranking 18th in 2016.
However, for the first time ever, Chinese mobile company Oppo has made it to the top 20 on the list of attractive brands. Not only this, in the mobile phone category, the top two positions are held by Chinese mobile phone manufacturers Oppo and Vivo, respectively, in the most attractive brand section for 2017.
N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research, said, “The hunger of Chinese mobile phone brands to penetrate the Indian markets can be seen easily with Oppo paying around Rs 15,000 crore and securing IPL rights for the next five years. These Chinese companies have the most innovative methods of marketing and sales are all about how one markets its products for the perception game.”
Another surprise in the 2017 report is the presence of the Patanjali group at the 18th position among the top 20 brands. The group has jumped from the 87th position it held last year and is the only brand from the FMCG category that made it to the top 20 list of attrac- tive brands for 2017.
“With the rise in the ranks of the Patanjali group, it is clear that the game for the FMCG sector is going to change completely in the coming years. Consumers, who always wanted foreign brands, are now looking for Indian Ayurvedic brands. This is the reason we see companies like Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble (P&G) ranking at 101 and 107 positions, way behind Patanjanli,” N. Chandramouli added.
In the telecom sector, Airtel has retained the first position even this year, leaving behind Reliance Jio at the second position, despite Jio offering free services for several months.
According to Sachin Bhonsle, research director of TRA Research, the analytics of the attractiveness of the brands were drawn after conducting a survey in 16 major cities of the country, on a sample size of 3,000 people who were in the age bracket of 21 to 50. They were given a set of questions to answer in different categories. Based on their answers, analytical and mathematical calculations were done in partnership with the Indian Statistical Institute, to draw conclusions. The world’s largest forging company, Bharat Forge Ltd is also the largest repository of metallurgical knowledge, offering full service supply capability to its geographically dispersed marquee customers—from concept to product design, engineering, manufacturing, testing and validation. Pune based and part of the USD 2 billion Kalyani Group, Bharat Forge is truly an Indian multinational. It is a technological driven global leader in metal forging, serving several sectors such as automotive, oil and gas, power, construction and mining, rail, marine and aerospace. Bharat Forge has manufacturing facilities spread across India, Germany, Sweden and France, manufacturing high performance critical and safety components for the automotive and non automotive sectors. Bharat Forge reported a strong Q1FY18 quarter, with a 33% revenue growth, beating most analysts’ estimates. Revenue was strong on the back of revival in the industrial segment, particularly oil and gas. It also witnessed robust growth in exports, especially in US markets, reporting a growth of more than 100% on the back of revival in demand from all sectors like passenger cars, rail, aerospace and majorly from commercial vehicles. Despite disruption caused by GST and other unfavourable conditions, Bharat Forge Ltd posted a good set of quarterly numbers, with new order wins from the domestic commercial vehicles’ segment, aiding strong revenue growth. The management also indicated that it has won new orders worth Rs 2 billion in the defence vertical, for supply of dual technology detection equipment during the next two years. Another subsidiary of the company, Kalyani Strategic Systems has also entered into a joint venture with Rafael of France to commission a new facility in Hyderabad for supply of defence equipment, including spike missiles. The net debt of the company is at comfortable levels, with net debt to equity at 0.2% times and is on course to become net cash in due course of time. Further, the upcoming BSV1 emission norms can help Bharat Forge consolidate its base and sharply increase the content with the launch of new products in the auto transmission basket. We believe the company’s efforts in the long run to be a diversified player in forging is likely to materialise over the coming years, with top line revenue growth seen at over 14% between FY18 and FY20. Most analysts remain optimistic on Bharat Forge, with revival in demand improving sentiments globally. The revival in commodity should result in a healthy order flow for the company. The company has recently given a healthy stock bonus issue of 1:1 to its shareholders and the share currently quoting at Rs 670 on the Indian bourses can appreciate to around Rs 850 by April 2018. Rajiv Kapoor is a share broker, certified mutual fund expert and MDRT insurance agent.