IT firms, banks dominate India's most valuable brands list

’Tis the battle of the titans. After several years at the top as India’s most valuable brand, HDFC Bank has ceded the numero uno position to TCS. In Kantar Brandz India’s 2022 Rankings, the homegrown IT giant came out tops with a brand value of $45.52 billion.

TCS’ brand value rose 212 per cent between 2020 and 2022. The company climbed two places in the ranking to attain the number 1 position that was held by HDFC Bank since the inception of the Kantar BrandZ India ranking in 2014. Incidentally, TCS also emerged as the top Indian brand in Kantar BrandZ’s global list this year.

Not to be left far behind, HDFC Bank ranked number 2 in the latest Indian ranking, with a brand valuation of $32.75 billion. Other banks in the top 10 were State Bank of India (at number 6), Kotak Mahindra Bank (number 8), and ICICI Bank (number 9), with respective brand valuations of $13.63 billion, $11.9 billion, and $11 billion. 

Others in the top 10 included TCS-peer Infosys ($29.22 billion), Airtel ($17.45 billion), Asian Paints ($15.35 billion), LIC ($12.39 billion), and Jio (10.7 billion). Infosys was the biggest gainer in the top 10, with its brand value jumping 554 per cent since 2020, as per the findings.

Meanwhile, LIC and Jio were the only ones in the top 10 to witness a drop in their ranks. While LIC slipped 5 spots, Jio was down 3 places. 

New economy stars in top 75 

The cumulative brand value of the top 75 Indian brands stood at $393.3 billion, representing 11 per cent of India’s GDP ($3.5 trillion). Since 2019, this value has grown at a CAGR of 35 per cent. Several new-age tech startups and unicorns made it to the top 50 of this. 

These include Flipkart (which dropped out of the top 10 this year), Byju's, Swiggy, Nykaa, Ola, Naukri, Zomato, OYO, Dream11, Razorpay, and Paytm. “These brands are playing a growing role in India’s economy, catering to domestic needs as well as those of global customers,” Kantar said.

“As India marches towards the goal of a $5 trillion GDP, Indian brands have an opportunity to both participate and drive this growth by painting their own transformational vision,” Kantar added.

The prominence of IT and tech-related brands in the India list is a sharp contrast to that of Europe, where luxury and banking brands dominate. In Latin America, meanwhile, beer brands led the list.

While the post-COVID recovery for India has been sharp, Kantar warned that “there are substantial short-term challenges to overcome, with the long-term effects of the pandemic being compounded by the war in Europe and rising inflation.”

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