India Inc's Brand Sheet
New Delhi   02-Sep-2008
A reading of this year's Brand Finance India's Top 50 (Company) Brands list with last year's throws up some important lessons for Indian businesses. With 11 debutants in the Top 50 list edging out some of the erstwhile corporate biggies, the message for India Inc., is quite clear-that history and financial heft alone won't guarantee a strong brand-a prerequisite to business success in an environment where tangible differentiators in land, capital et al are fast becoming parity. For a host of companies, who barely managed to hold on to their positions and valuations this year, the writing on the wall is dear too that a brand can easily whither in the paucity of strategic, sustained investments, as it seems to have happened with as many as eight companies, primarily from the oil sector, which witnessed a drop in their Brand Power Rating (BPR), a critical measure of brand health. The latest Brand Finance study finds that companies in sectors like telecom, finance and auto have shown healthy signs of growth this year. The czar of India Inc., Reliance Industries (SSL) once again flaunted muscle by emerging as the most valuable brand, at Rs 26,801 crore, on BF Top 50 list However, the increase in valuation is only marginal, and its BPR too slipped from A to BBB + this year. The pecking order in the IT-ITES sector remains much the same' with Tata Consultancy Services being the strongest brand, moving up the brand valuation and rating ladder. The brand is worth Rs 19,592-crore and is rated AA. Wipro, India's third largest software services exporter, is now worth Rs 12,974-crore. Infosys Technologies has shown positive signs in brand valuation moving from Rs 7,341-crore to Rs 8,334-crore. In the banking sector, ICICI Bank comes with a few surprises. The brand has gained over Rs 2,000-crore in valuation (to Rs 11,533-crore) despite facing pressure on its bottomline in the past year or so. India's largest bank State Bank of India emerges the most valuable financial services brand valued at Rs 16,595-crore. HDFC and HDFC Bank have still a long way to be in top 2 5 in the list. Meanwhile, the Indian telecom industry is set to witness exciting times ahead as the country transcends to the next generation of mobile phone services. With around 300-mil-lion telephone subscribers, the country boasts of having the second largest telecom network in the world after China. Bharti Airtel continues to be the baron of the Indian telecom brands with its valuation jumping from Rs 7, 758-crore in 2006 to Rs 9,798-crore in December 2007. Though Reliance Communications: has shown negative signs in terms of brand strength (BBB), its valuation has grown over Rs 1,400-crore and now stands at Rs 7,440-crore. Joining the brand wagon list this year are the telecom majors -Idea Cellular and Tata Communications. Escalating crude oil prices added to the woes of the oil sector. IndianOil's brand strength has gone down as compared to last year. Infact, all three PSU oil companies on the Top 50 Brands list have seen brand value erode, in rupee terms. While Bharat Petroleum Corporation valued Rs 9,395-crore in 2007 as against Rs 11, 312-crore in 2006; Hindustan Petroleum Corporation stands at Rs 7,950 crore in 2007 from Rs 9,348-crore in 2006 and IndianOil is at Rs 17,987-crore in 2007 versus Rs 18,992-crore in 2006. The auto story hasn't changed much. Tata Motors, facing an impending delay in its Nano launch, remains the country's most valuable auto brand. It stands at Rs 12,950-crore up from Rs 12,096-crore last year. Next comes Maruti Suzuki valued at Rs 5,299-crore in 2007. Hero Honda, saw an increase in valuation to Rs 3,208-crore from Rs 2,732-crore last year, although its brand strength has gone down vis-a-vis last year.