Nokia, Tata retain the top two slots in the most trusted brands list; Reliance slips to 10th position.
South Korean chaebols LG and Samsung have gone past Japanese electronics giant Sony in the list of India’s most trusted brands, complied by Brand Trust. While Sony has slipped to the fifth position this year, LG has moved to the third slot followed by Samsung in the fourth position.
Nokia and Tata have retained their first and second positions in the report which lists India’s 1,000 most trusted brands. Reliance has slipped to the 10th most trusted brand this year from sixth last year. Bajaj, ranked 12th last year, is a new entrant in this year’s top 10. LIC and Airtel are unchanged from last year, at eighth and ninth ranks, respectively, while Titan could not make it to the top 10. Maruti Suzuki has improved its position by one notch and is India’s sixth most trusted brand this year.
The Brand Trust report is based on primary research conducted on 61 components of trust – a proprietary tool of Trust Research Advisory. The research is conducted with 2,718 ‘influencer' respondents from 15 cities, generating more than two million data-points from 12,000 hours of research.
Among automotives, Hyundai Motor and Tata Motors — the second and third biggest car makers — did not make it to the top 10 list. The winner, Maruti Suzuki, is followed by BMW, Hero Honda, Toyota and Honda in the list. Other automobile brands such as Ford, Audi, Skoda, Hero and Yamaha also feature in the list of top 10 trusted automotive brands, the report said.
While Maruti Suzuki Dzire has been rated as the most trusted car, BMW has been rated as the most trusted luxury car brand.
When it comes to branded fashion, Indians swear by Armani, rating the Italian label as the best, followed by Gucci and Diesel. Esprit, Dolce & Gabana, Playboy, Denim, Tommy Hilfiger, Dunhill and CalvinKlein are the other brands in the top 10 list.
In the consumer products segment, respondents rated Lux at the top spot, followed by Ponds and Dove.
In foods and beverages, Pepsi, Cadbury’s and Parle are rated as number one, two and three respectively, Dabur has been rated as the most trusted brand in healthcare business followed by Johnson & Johnson and Himalaya.
In education, IIT comes after Aptech and NIIT. When it came to hospitality, people rated Taj as the best brand, followed by Hyatt and Marriott, the report said.
In retail, KFC won people’s trust with Big Bazaar and McDonald’s at number two and three respectively.
In banking and financial services, LIC, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC and HSBC (in that order) have been rated as the most trusted.
The report suggests that people in North India differ from the rest of the country in their brand preferences. People from five cities — New Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow and Indore, which comprise 26 per cent of the total respondents — gave a thumbs down to certain big brands that are otherwise popular nationwide. Tata, for example, may be second ranked nationwide, but in the north, it is in the sixth position. Other brands which have scored nationally but lost out in North India include Titan (all India rank - 12th; North India rank - 31st); Vodafone (all India rank - 17th; North India rank - 32nd), Raymond (all India rank - 21st; North India rank - 33rd) and Hewlett Packard (all India rank - 22nd; North India rank-37th).
North India has also shown significantly greater trust on some brands as compared to rest of India. For example, Pepsi (All India rank — 16th; North India rank — 8th;), Hero Honda (all India rank — 25th; North India rank — 10th;) and Levis (All India rank — 47th; North India rank — 14th).
Although North India has the highest growing and the largest internet user population in the country, the report suggests some sharp contrasts to the fact. For example, Google, which ranks 31st all India, came down to 46th in the North. Same is the fate of others such as Facebook.
The survey was conducted between August and November last year.
The report also lists 22 personalities. Predictably, Anna Hazare tops the list.
