TCS, HDFC Bank, Infy and LIC among Kantar's global 100 most valuable firms

IT services and banking companies have retained top positions in the Kantar Brandz, 2022 Most Valuable Global Brands report. This year the number of Indian brands in the Global Top 100 rose to four: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HDFC Bank, Infosys, and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).

That’s more than the amount that Japan, Italy, or the UK placed – combined, said the report. TCS jumped 12 positions to 46th position from 58th in 2021. Its brand value was up 61 per cent.

“The presence of TCS and Infosys in the APAC Kantar BrandZ Top 10 is not a fluke. Indian-born consulting companies have combined a high quality of human resources in India with innovative technological platforms, which unlock their employees’ capabilities. Formerly a challenger brand, TCS is now valued at $199 billion, almost equal to its peer Accenture. Success fuels dreams, which lead to more success. Today, India ranks number two on funded unicorns and number one in soon-to-be unicorns,” said Wayne Levings, president APAC, insights division, Kantar.

HDFC Bank’s rank was up five positions and its brand value increased 35 per cent. However, life insurance player LIC saw its rank slip 19 positions to 92, and its brand value was down by 4 per cent compared to 2021.

Infosys made its debut to the list at 64th position at a brand value of $33,551 billion, up 33 per cent.

As China’s long run of spectacular growth appears to be levelling off for now, and India has emerged as a major source of opportunity, not least for Chinese brands themselves, some of which have begun to open factories in Indian cities, said the report.

The scale of the Indian market offers room for growth: For instance, according to the latest “ICUBE” report from The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Kantar, the number of mobile internet users in India will rise to 900 million by 2025, up from 622 million in 2020.

But India has its impressive stable of home-grown brands (not to mention strict regulations aimed at supporting domestic factories).

The report points out how local success stories are taking on global traditional brands. From India, the report talks about Ghari, the detergent brand.

“Local brands are nimble and agile, much more equipped to change at a moment’s notice. They have been unafraid to use hyper-local strategies to win in segments ignored by their bigger rivals. The brand Ghari, for example, has used aggressive pricing and trust-building quality controls to become the largest detergent brand in India -- in less than a decade,” said the report.

The report said Ghari started as a regional success story before taking on detergent giants. And today it holds a 17.1 per cent market share.

“Several success stories have emerged through attacking bigger brands’ Achilles heels. The very qualities that make market leaders strong (their scale, their international footprint, their clearly defined mission, and their well-laid-out plans) can also make big players less agile. These qualities can make them less culturally adaptive too, and thus distant from local consumers,” said the report.