View the full Brand Finance India 100 2021 report here
The total value of India’s top 100 brands has increased by 2%, from US$162.1 billion in 2020 to US$164.9 billion in 2021, according to the latest Brand Finance India 100 2021 report. This uplift in brand value over the course of the first year of the pandemic is an impressive feat given the global economic crisis following the implementation of national lockdowns in March 2020, when business activity was brought to a halt, affecting both production and consumption. The current national health emergency is trying India once again and the country’s top brands will be essential to help the economy rebound.
The COVID-19 pandemic has tested the resolve of the best Indian brands. Sectors including IT, healthcare, utilities, chemicals, edutech, banking, and construction have proved their efficiency in supporting the national economy. This, paired with the government and the Reserve Bank of India monetary and fiscal policy measures, has helped support vulnerable firms and households, expand service delivery, cushion the impact of the crisis over the course of last year, and establish a benchmark for this year’s response.
Ajimon Francis, Managing Director, Brand Finance India, commented:
“Despite being one of the worst hit nations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian brands have shown remarkable resilience to the challenges that have ensued since the first lockdown in March 2020. Over the past year, the nation’s top 100 most valuable brands have recorded a 2% uplift in total brand value, showcasing their strength. Yet the current national health emergency presents an even greater challenge than last year’s lockdown. In these trying times for all of India, brands will need to play their part in supporting recovery.”
TATA Group in league of its own
TATA Group has retained the title of India’s most valuable brand by a considerable lead with a brand value of US$21.3 billion. Operating in more than 100 countries across six continents and employing over three-quarters of a million people, TATA Group is a force to be reckoned with on the global stage. With 30 companies under the TATA Group umbrella, ranging from Tata Steel and Tata Motors to TCS and Tata Consumer Products, the brand has managed to protect itself from COVID-19 damage – this year recording a 6% uplift in brand value.
There are eight further conglomerate brands in the Brand Finance India 100 2021 ranking, which account for over a quarter of the total brand value, making it the most valuable brand category in India. Reliance Industries (up 9% to US$8.1 billion) and Mahindra Group (down 6% to US$5.4 billion) sit in 4th and 9th place, respectively.
Banking second most valuable
Sitting behind conglomerates, banking is the nation’s second most valuable sector, with its 16 brands accounting for 16% of the total brand value in the ranking. Indian banks have bucked the global sector trend, recording a cumulative brand value growth of 8% year-on-year.
HDFC Bank has become India’s most valuable banking brand, up 11% to US$6.6 billion and claiming 5th spot in the ranking, ahead of last year’s most valuable Indian banking brand State Bank of India (down 9% to US$5.8 billion) which sits in 7th.
ICICI claimed the spot of India’s third most valuable banking brand, brand value up 23% to US$3.5 billion. This success follows moves in 2018 to pursue more innovative banking solutions, with a focus on digital and technology driven processes.
The Union Bank of India saw the fastest year-on-year brand value increase in the ranking, growing by 163% to US$1.2 billion and simultaneously soaring 39 places to claim 31st spot.
The amalgamationbetween Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank is primarily responsible for this growth - borne as part of a nationwide effort to consolidate India’s banking space. This success is also mirrored at the national level.
IT services completes podium
The third most valuable sector in India is IT services. Behind TCS (up 11% to US$14.9 billion) which contributes a significant proportion of TATA Group’s conglomerate brand value, Infosys is the highest ranked standalone IT services brand and 3rd in the overall Brand Finance India 100 2021 ranking, jumping up one place from last year following a solid 19% brand value growth to US$8.4 billion. Even before the pandemic, Infosys’s leadership recognised the importance of focusing on its service offering, including data security and cloud services. This focus, paired with key acquisitions to bolster the brand’s end-to-end customer experience offerings, has propelled Infosys to a position where it consistently wins larger transformation, consulting, data management, and cloud service projects.
LTI is the fastest-growing IT services brand this year not just in India but also globally, recording an impressive 68% brand value growth to US$982 million. For the last five years, LTI has consistently delivered double digit growth year-on-year and shows no signs of slowing down. As a young brand, it is rising quickly within a highly competitive space, and is fast becoming one of the most exciting challenger brands within the sector.
Fellow IT services brands HCL (up 13% to US$5.5 billion), Tech Mahindra (up 11% to US$2.3 billion – included in Mahindra Group’s conglomerate brand value), and Mphasis (up 13% to US$536 million), have all recorded healthy uplifts in brand value this year. Tech Mahindra continues to work towards accelerated growth through building on its healthy pipeline deals and embracing new 5G opportunities. Another IT major, Wipro (down 1% to US$4.3 billion), has dropped one rank, but remains a formidable player in the IT services space.
A notable challenger brand in the market, Hexaware has swiftly risen through the ranks, moving 10 spots up since last year. Hexaware has also improved its brand strength rating this year to AA-, having scored particularly well on employee and on CSR-related brand equity metrics, such as community and environment. The long-term building of brand equity coupled with technical expertise in automation, innovation, and digital transformation can help Hexaware grow customer preference and successfully compete with the industry's incumbents, ultimately resulting in increased brand value.
Jio rings in as nation’s strongest brand
In addition to measuring overall brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance. According to these criteria, Jio has claimed the title of India’s strongest brand as well as the world’s strongest telecom brand, according to the Brand Finance Telecoms 150 2021 report, with a Brand Strength Index score of 91.7 out of 100 and the elite AAA+ brand strength rating.
Despite only being founded in 2016, Jio has quickly become the largest mobile network operator in India and the third largest mobile network operator in the world, with almost 400 million subscribers. Renowned for its incredibly affordable plans, Jio took India by storm, offering 4G to millions of users for free and simultaneously transforming how Indians consume the internet – known as the ‘Jio effect’. As brand strength is one of the key drivers of brand value, this year, Jio also counts among the top 10 most valuable brands in India for the first time.
Savio D’Souza, Valuation Director, Brand Finance, commented:
“The dominance of the Jio brand across the nation is evident from the results of Brand Finance’s original market research. Jio scores highest in all metrics – consideration, conversion, reputation, recommendation, word of mouth, innovation, customer service, and value for money - compared to its telecom competitors in India. The brand has no major weaknesses within the sector, and unlike many telecom brands globally, Jio has shown that it has broken the mould, and enjoys genuine affection from consumers.”
View the full Brand Finance India 100 2021 report here
Note to Editors
Every year, Brand Finance puts 5,000 of the biggest brands to the test, evaluating their strength and quantifying their value, and publishes nearly 100 reports, ranking brands across all sectors and countries. India’s top 100 most valuable brands are included in the Brand Finance India 100 2021 report.
The full Brand Finance India 100 2021 ranking, additional insights, charts, more information about the methodology, as well as definitions of key terms are available in the Brand Finance India 100 2021 report.
Brand value is understood as the net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market. Brand strength is the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures relative to its competitors. Please see below for a full explanation of our methodology.
About Brand Finance
Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. Bridging the gap between marketing and finance, Brand Finance evaluates the strength of brands and quantifies their financial value to help organisations of all kinds make strategic decisions.
Headquartered in London, Brand Finance has offices in over 20 countries, offering services on all continents. Every year, Brand Finance conducts more than 5,000 brand valuations, supported by original market research, and publishes nearly 100 reports which rank brands across all sectors and countries.
Brand Finance is a regulated accountancy firm, leading the standardisation of the brand valuation industry. Brand Finance was the first to be certified by independent auditors as compliant with both ISO 10668 and ISO 20671, and has received the official endorsement of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) in the United States.
Methodology
Definition of Brand
Brand is defined as a marketing-related intangible asset including, but not limited to, names, terms, signs, symbols, logos, and designs, intended to identify goods, services, or entities, creating distinctive images and associations in the minds of stakeholders, thereby generating economic benefits.
Brand Value
Brand value refers to the present value of earnings specifically related to brand reputation. Organisations own and control these earnings by owning trademark rights.
All brand valuation methodologies are essentially trying to identify this, although the approach and assumptions differ. As a result, published brand values can be different.
These differences are similar to the way equity analysts provide business valuations that are different to one another. The only way you find out the “real” value is by looking at what people really pay.
As a result, Brand Finance always incorporates a review of what users of brands actually pay for the use of brands in the form of brand royalty agreements, which are found in more or less every sector in the world.
This is known as the “Royalty Relief” methodology and is by far the most widely used approach for brand valuations since it is grounded in reality.
It is the basis for our public rankings but we always augment it with a real understanding of people’s perceptions and their effects on demand – from our database of market research on over 3000 brands in over 30 markets.
Brand Valuation Methodology
For our rankings, Brand Finance uses the simplest method possible to help readers understand, gain trust in, and actively use brand valuations.
Brand Finance calculates the values of brands in its rankings using the Royalty Relief approach – a brand valuation method compliant with the industry standards set in ISO 10668.
Our Brand Strength Index assessment, a balanced scorecard of brand-related measures, is also compliant with international standards (ISO 20671) and operates as a predictive tool of future brand value changes and a control panel to help business improving marketing.
We do this in the following four steps:
1. Brand Impact
We review what brands already pay in royalty agreements. This is augmented by an analysis of how brands impact profitability in the sector versus generic brands.
This results in a range of possible royalties that could be charged in the sector for brands (for example a range of 0% to 2% of revenue).
2. Brand Strength
We adjust the rate higher or lower for brands by analysing Brand Strength. We analyse brand strength by looking at three core pillars: “Investment” which are activities supporting the future strength of the brand; “Equity” which are real perceptions sourced from our original market research and other data partners; “Performance” which are brand-related measures of business results, such as market share.
Each brand is assigned a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score out of 100, which feeds into the brand value calculation. Based on the score, each brand is assigned a corresponding Brand Rating up to AAA+, in a format similar to a credit rating.
3. Brand Impact x Brand Strength
The BSI score is applied to the royalty range to arrive at a royalty rate. For example, if the royalty range in a sector is 0-5% and a brand has a BSI score of 80 out of 100, then an appropriate royalty rate for the use of this brand in the given sector will be 4%.
4. Brand Value Calculation
We determine brand-specific revenues as a proportion of parent company revenues attributable to the brand in question and forecast those revenues by analysing historic revenues, equity analyst forecasts, and economic growth rates.
We then apply the royalty rate to the forecast revenues to derive brand revenues and apply the relevant valuation assumptions to arrive at a discounted, post-tax present value which equals the brand value.
Disclaimer
Brand Finance has produced this study with an independent and unbiased analysis. The values derived and opinions presented in this study are based on publicly available information and certain assumptions that Brand Finance used where such data was deficient or unclear. Brand Finance accepts no responsibility and will not be liable in the event that the publicly available information relied upon is subsequently found to be inaccurate. The opinions and financial analysis expressed in the study are not to be construed as providing investment or business advice. Brand Finance does not intend the study to be relied upon for any reason and excludes all liability to any body, government, or organisation.
The data presented in this study form part of Brand Finance's proprietary database, are provided for the benefit of the media, and are not to be used in part or in full for any commercial or technical purpose without written permission from Brand Finance.
