Tata is the most valued brand in India, followed by Reliance Industries, Airtel, Life Insurance Corporation and State Bank of India, an annual survey by brand consultancy Interbrand India, that ranks the country’s top 30 brands showed on Thursday. The rankings are an analysis of the financial performance of the branded product or service, the role the brand plays in purchase decisions, and the brand’s competitive strength. Big gainers Tata has held top spot in the two past editions of Interbrand’s survey. This year, the brand is valued at Rs 669.4 billion, a rise of 12 per cent in value over the past year. The biggest gainers for the year included software services provider HCL, which saw a 27 per cent jump in its value, followed by private sector bank Kotak Mahindra Bank, jewellery brand Tanishq, IT giant Infosys, car maker Maruti Suzuki and Asian Paints. Media brand Zee is the latest addition to the rankings displacing the country’s largest beer brand, Kingfisher). According to Interbrand’s analysis, the rise of each of these brands over the past year is related to perceptive business practices that have helped them create better customer experiences. HCL, for instance, has diversified into areas outside its core specialities, investing in health care while also tapping into the skilling business to bring out the best of its human resources. Kotak Mahindra on the other hand had a high profile merger with ING Vysya and has used it to both increase its footprint as well as expand the range of services that it can provide its customers. Customer needs Asian Paints and Maruti Suzuki were cited in the survey as other notable examples of brands that have understood the needs of the customer better. Asian Paints, for instance, had introduced services like colour consultancy, express painting and flagship stores. Design features And Maruti had democratised hitherto premium features, with even an entry level model like Celerio coming with automatic drive, and the Ciaz, with design features usually seen only in more upmarket brands like Honda. Public sector giant Oil and Natural Gas Corporation was one of the biggest losers, with its brand value dropping nearly 19 per cent, which Interbrand analysts said could be due to falling global oil prices. Idea Cellular lost two percent of its value, a result of Reliance and Airtel's aggressive expansion in the sector. Chinese entrants No Indian brand has as yet appeared in the company's Best Global Brands Ranking, where two Chinese companies – Huawei and Lenovo – have made an apearance. Over the last two editions of the survey, Interbrand has spoken of the need for universalisation of brands and what it takes for to be a global leading brand. Ashish Mishra, managing director, of the company, which is part of the Omnicon advertising and public relations conglomerate, said that the company’s larger purpose in the market is to “identify the best Indian brands and help them in their journey toward becoming [the] best global brands.” He noted that there are sector-leading brands making progress toward becoming global brands. “The overall behaviour of the top brands is in line with the behaviour of the best global brands. They all display deeper customer empathy and responsiveness, thereby creating micro-experiences at emerging touch points.”

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