HDFC Bank retains No. 1 rank in BrandZ India Top 50 for third year running

The BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands ranking shows locally grown Indian brands increased 32% in value over three years

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | September 22, 2016

HDFC Bank topped, for the third consecutive year, the 3^rd annual BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands ranking. Airtel came in at No. 2 followed by State Bank of India at No. 3. The study, released by WPP and Kantar Millward Brown, showed HDFC Bank clocked a 15% growth over the past year.

The BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Indian Brands report showed that the total value of India's top brands has risen by 30% over the last three years. The top 50 brands are now worth $90.5 billion.

The past year was a year of consolidation for the BrandZ India Top 50, primarily due to a decline in brand value of state-owned banks, bringing down their total brand value marginally by 2%. Despite this, brands in the financial sector still made the largest contribution to the overall value, but significant growth was also seen across multiple other sectors, including auto and consumer goods. The airline sector made it into the BrandZ India Top 50 rankings for the first time with IndiGo and Jet Airways positioned at 26 and 36, respectively.

The study also revealed that 10 brands in the top 50 financial brands continued to dominate the ranking. BrandZ India Top 50 also saw the debut of a retail brand in three years. By securing the 50^th position, Reliance Retail is signalling a strong growth in the sector.

(L-R) David Roth, , CEO EMEA and Asia, The Store WPP Aditya Puri, Managing Director of HDFC Bank, Eric Salama, Chairman and CEO- Kantar Group, Global

According to the study, Indians are choosing to trade up and selecting quality over quantity. Internet penetration is leading to weakening brand loyalty as internet provides consumers access to larger diaspora of premium brands available at affordable prices.

Commenting on India's potential, David Roth, CEO, EMEA & Asia, The Store WPP, said, “The 2016 BrandZ study shows the extent of change India has witnessed and its continuing potential. India has relaxed ownership rules across key industries and is making doing business in India easier. Parliament has taken steps to replace a complicated mix of national, state and local taxes with a single Goods and Services Tax. India does branding India's way. This country is so multi-faceted, it needs to be viewed through a wide-angle lens, which is what this report and its insights provides and why it's of such value to marketers building valuable brands in India.”

Preeti Reddy, CEO, Kantar Consumer Insights, South Asia, said, “The consumer is changing and at the heart of this change is the internet, specifically the mobile. It has become an enormous social and demographic equaliser and is now changing the consumer-brand relationship. Consumers' decision making is more informed. They are moving from being passively spoken to more actively participating and they are far more empowered. They have actually discovered the power of the 'send' button on their mobile and they are using it to the fullest. They are participating in decisions, they are challenging everything and they are less loyal. But in all this change, there are a few fundamentals of brand building that have remained constant. One of them being, you have to know your consumer and know them in different ways now. Brands can no longer instruct consumers on how to live their lives. Now, brands have to express the consumer's most inner desires and needs. Brands also need to offer consumers real benefits.”

“Over the past year, brands have had to work hard to hold on to their position in the Top 50. 20 brands have witnessed a drop in their ranking within the Top 50. Brands that have managed to sustain their ranking over the past two years have only been able to do so by increasing their brand value by over 35%. For these brands, it is critical that they identify fundamental insights about consumer needs and also assert their difference from the competition. Innovation helps create the perception of difference while meaningfully different brands build salience with great creative advertising and a strategic media mix. Brands that are meaningful, different and salient inspire love. Love has a multiplier effect that helps accelerate brand value growth,” said Dinesh Kapoor, Kantar Millward Brown's Managing Director, South Asia.

Winners speak

The Top 5 ranked brands on BrandZ India 2016, Asian Paints, SBI, Airtel, HDFC, ICICI along with Eric Salama, Chairman and CEO- Kantar Group, Global and David Roth, CEO EMEA and Asia, The Store WPP

Aditya Puri, Managing Director, HDFC Bank, said, “A brand cannot be built unless each one of us at HDFC Bank believes in it. Fundamentally, a brand is what we stand for in terms of the emotional value and the real value that we want to deliver to the customer. The emotional value is a combination of honesty, trust, integrity and being able to deliver the product at all times to the satisfaction of the customer. The real value is to deliver a differentiated product which changes the life of the customer which we have tried to do in financial services by making it more convenient.”

Suresh Narayanan, Chairman & Managing Director at Nestle India wins award for BrandZ™ India 2016 “Most Valuable Food & Dairy Brand”

Dinesh Menon, CMO, SBI, said, “For an organisation of the scale of SBI with a 200-year legacy and a multitude of challenges, we see this award as something that brings in the better, more than a sense of accomplishment. We have so many journeys to travel and the effort never stops because we have a very diverse set of consumers from the smallest village to a metro in the country and the needs and requirements are very diverse. Therefore, our challenge never stops a single way. More than an achievement, I think it helps to do something better.”

BrandZ Top 10 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2016:

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