BrandZ: Economic slowdown pulls down the growth of India's top 75 brands to just 6%

The collective growth of India’s top 75 brands fell to just 6% in 2019 as compared to 34% in 2018, according to the BrandZ Most Valuable Indian Brands analysis report by WPP and Kantar Millward Brown.

The study said the slowdown in the growth was mainly because of the temporary slump in the Indian economy. The biggest challenges were in sectors such as automobiles, alcohol and tobacco.

Over the past five years, the stock portfolio of the BrandZ India Top 75 most valuable Indian brands increased 33.8% in value, almost triple the growth rate of the Indian Sensex, a weighted index of 30 stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange that increased only 12.4%. 

The BrandZ study, which is the only brand valuation ranking to combine companies’ financial data with consumer insight and opinion, shows that trust is key to develop the stability required for long-term success; highly trusted brands in the Top 75 are worth 129% more than less trusted ones.

Doreen Wang, The Global Head of BrandZ at Kantar, said the total value of the top 100 global brands is 4.7 trillion, equal to the GDP of Spain, Russia and South Korea put together. In the list of top 100 Global Brands released earlier this year, Amazon topped by surpassing Google and Apple. Amazon’s smart acquisitions that led to new revenue streams, excellent customer service provisions and its ability to stay ahead of its competitors by offering a diverse eco-system of products and services allowed it to continuously accelerate its brand value growth.

In the list of BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands, HDFC Bank retained its No. 1 spot for the sixth consecutive year with a rise of 5% in its brand value of $22.7 billion. The bank maintained its reputation for its sustainable livelihood initiative by introducing smaller loans that can be accessed via its bank branches.

Speaking with BestMediaInfo.com, Ravi Santhanam, The Chief Marketing Officer, HDFC Bank, said that consistent consumer focus, continuously looking at the experiences they have and delivering their needs helped the brand retain the top position.

When asked how difficult is for any brand to live up to the customers' expectations in the age of social and hyper social media and stay firm to its standing, he said, “It is quite difficult in the age of social media, but it is also an opportunity because social media makes sure that the consumers express what is not working, very clearly and very quickly, very fast, which enables us to actually take care of things. I don’t see it as a problem; rather I see it as a great opportunity for us to improve our services."

Santhanam does not see the rules of marketing changing and said, "I believe that it is still the same, solve the problem for the consumer, and make sure it is always relevant for them."

BrandZ Top 5 Most Valued Indian Brands

With a brand value of $20.1 billion, insurance brand LIC continues to maintain the second spot, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) at the third position with a brand value of $18.1 billion. The other brands included in the list are Airtel (brand value of $10.3 billion) and State Bank of India (brand value of $8.4 billion). TCS had the highest brand value change (in percentage) at 21%, in comparison to 2018.

Trusted brands include many of the consumer-facing technology platforms and service providers. Despite owing their success to disruptive beginnings, these brands now also focus on activities to build trust such as ongoing and effective communications with consumers that generate comfort and familiarity with using the brand. With a 30% increase in value, this sector was the fastest growing group of brands in the ranking.

Notable brands include ecommerce site Flipkart (No. 12), which increased its brand value 14% to $4.7 billion, while unicorn brands hotel booking site Oyo ($2.0 billion), online food ordering service Swiggy ($1.6 billion) and online restaurant marketplace Zomato ($1.0 billion) are newcomers to the ranking at No. 30, No. 39 and No. 61 respectively.

“In the world of marketing and communications, India has established itself as the world’s 10th largest and the fastest growing advertising market. The country’s unique brand landscape is populated by some established brands as well as by disruptive and already popular unicorns like Jio and Swiggy. However, India’s rise to the top tier global economy has also meant exposure to the same macroeconomic headwinds and trade tensions that have affected countries world over,” said David Roth, CEO, the Store WPP, EMEA & Asia Chairman, BrandZ and BAV Group.

Top 10 Risers among Indian Brands

Jio tops the list of the Indian risers’ brands with a brand value of $5.4 billion and a brand value change percentage of 34%. Jio is followed by technology brand Infosys with a brand value of $5.1 billion and Maggie with a brand value of $1.7 billion. Insurance brand Bajaj Allianz was placed at the fourth position with a brand value of $0.9 billion and Axis Bank at the fifth position. The other brands in the list were TCS, Brooke Bond, Naukri.com, and Ola.

BrandZ Top 10 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2019

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