Samsung, Sony and LG are India's most trusted brands

Samsung, Sony and LG are the three most trusted brands in India, according to The Brand Trust Report 2018 released by TRA Research (a Comniscient Group company). Trust is measured through the company's proprietary tool, The Brand Trust Matrix.

Samsung, the consumer electronics giant, leapt 17 spots from its 2016 rank to reach the top position last year and retained its top slot this year as well. Sony, ranked second, and LG, ranked third, have been steady for three years in a row.

Samsung continues to display its supremacy due to its innovative products coupled with aggressive marketing initiatives that have contributed to the brand's success in India & worldwide, said the report. LG was always among the top five in all the previous eight reports. Dell and HP, both in the personal technology category, moved up by 2 positions to rank 6 and 9 respectively.

The first Indian brand to appear in the list is the home-grown Tata group that has gone up a notch and is in the fourth place this year. The Indian conglomerate has maintained its dominance in 'Diversified' Super-Category for eight years in a row. Nike saw the biggest jump in its rank -- it moved up 29 positions to rank 8, making it a leading brand in Personal Accessories-Sportswear' Category.

The brands that fell by one position from the previous year are Apple (Rank 5) and Honda (7). Maruti Suzuki fell three slots to 10. In the top 20 brands, the biggest jump is by mobile phone brand VIVO that jumped from rank 59 to 20. Puma rose from rank 44 to 12.

When compared with last year, 320 new brands made it to the list of top 1000, 368 brands saw a slide in rank, 307 brands rose and 5 retained their ranks. A new entrant to the top 20 is Oppo, perched at 11. Oppo successfully won a competitive bid to sponsor the Indian national cricket team and has achieved the rights to display their logo on the team's kits from 2017 to 2022, including the 2019 World Cup. Another new entrant to the top 20 and also the biggest climber is Puma, jumping 32 positions to be ranked 12th.

Some of the important category leaders in Brand Trust are State Bank of India (rank 21), BFSI; Arrow (43), Formalwear; Pepsi (44), F&B; Amazon (53), Online Retailer - Diversified; American Express (167), Credit/Debit card; Muthoot Finance (171), Financial Services; Tanishq (258), Jewellery; Aviva Life Insurance (459), Insurance-Private; and Kangaroo Kids (640), Pre-School.

Brands that witnessed a falling trend included Bajaj (down from 6 in 2015 to 16 in 2018) and Godrej (from 9 in 2015 to 17 in 2018). The Brand Trust Report 2018 covered 2,488 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India, and generated 5 million datapoints and 9,000 unique brands, from which the top 1000 brands have been listed in this year's report.