Tata, Reliance on top, Dmart debuts the list

Led by software major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the house of Tata continues to be the country’s leading name, Interbrand’s latest ranking of India’s Top 40 brands shows. The brand valuation firm had last released its list of top Indian brands in November 2017. The interesting part here is that the pecking order of brands in the Top 10 ranking has not changed in the last year and a half, pointing to their resilience, Interbrand India’s MD Ashish Mishra said when releasing the 2019 report on Thursday.

The Tata brand value has grown six per cent in the last year and a half to touch ~78,722 crore despite challenges in the overseas operations of key firms Tata Motors and Tata Steel. Reliance Industries (RIL), on the other hand, has seen brand value grow 12 per cent, led by Jio, to touch ~42,826 crore. It is ranked second in the list. Airtel, at third, has slipped 13 per cent in terms of brand value to touch ~32,235 crore as it continues to fight Jio in telecom.

HDFC Bank, LIC, State Bank of India, Infosys, Mahindra, ICICI and Godrej are among the top 10 too, with HDFC Bank seeing the sharpest brand value increase among them at 14 per cent (~29,963 crore). LIC saw its brand value grow nine per cent to touch ~28,095 crore, while State Bank of India’s brand value stands at ~25,620 crore (growth of three per cent) and Infosys is at ~24,367 crore (growth of five per cent) respectively.

Mahindra, ICICI and Godrej have seen their brand values increase by nine per cent (~18,389 crore), five per cent (~16,993 crore) and six per cent (~16,897 crore), the report shows. At an overall level, says Mishra, the growth in brand value of the Top 40 brands has been 5.2 per cent, with DMart (~2,015 crore), Big Bazaar (~2,686 crore) and Nerolac Paints (~1,919 crore) entering the list for the first time.

Big Bazaar (33) and DMart (37) are a sign of the growing power of retail in the brand list while Nerolac Paints (39) reflects the deepening footprint of organised players in the paint business. The 2017 debutants Royal Enfield and Ambuja Cement, meanwhile, have grown in tems of brand value by 20 per cent and 21 per cent respectively, to touch ~10,934 crore and ~1,840 crore. The two are ranked sixteenth and fortieth on the list.

“It all boils down to using brands to create meaningful narratives of the changing landscape for people. The new themes of the top value creators are centred on premiumisation, customer as the CEO and not king and the constant need for reinvention,” says Mishra. “Brands need to understand that they not only need to move at the speed of light, but also redefine themselves and become an interface between technology and consumers,” he says.

Besides retail, automotive, technology and banking & finance grab a large hunk of the top 40 list. There are 11 brands in banking & finance, seven in auto (includes groups such as Tata and Mahindra that have a significant exposure to the sector) and eight in technology (includes IT and telecom brands). Retail has three brands and FMCG has seven (includes paints, staples and food & beverages) though sector bellwether ITC (19) has slipped five per cent in terms of brand value to touch ~8,796 crore.

Some of the other brands in the Top 40 that have slipped in terms of brand value include Wipro (one per cent), ONGC (four per cent), Punjab National Bank (13 per cent) and Kingfisher (three per cent). Their 2019 brand values are at ~13,450 crore (Wipro), ~6453 crore (ONGC), ~3256 crore (Punjab National Bank) and ~2256 crore (Kingfisher).