South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung is India's most trusted brand followed by Sony of Japan and the homegrown salt-to-steel multinational Tata, says a study report released Thursday.
The 'Brand Trust Report 2014' says: "Samsung has grown steadily in trust ranks over the last four years - fifth in 2011, fourth in 2012, second in 2013 and has reached India's most trusted rank this year.
"When a brand focuses on its trust with intensity, apart from trust the brand gains in market-share, product premium and acceptance of new products as an automatic by-product. Samsung's strategy of focusing on the core intangibles of its brand is evident from its climb to leadership in BTR 2014," said N. Chandramouli, chief executive officer, TRA (formerly known as Trust Research Advisory).
Hewlett Packard emerged as the most trusted brand in technology, Hero in automobiles and LIC in banking, financial services and insurance sector.
Chandramouli said this year's study involved 15,000 hours of fieldwork covering 2,500 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in the country and generated five million datapoints and 20,000 unique brands from which the top 1,200 brands have been listed in this year's report.
These brands have been classified into 284 different categories as against 213 categories in 2013.