Samsung is India's most trusted brand: Report

Image: Nguyen Huy Kham / Reuters

South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung has emerged as India’s most trusted brand for 2017, climbing 17 ranks from last year, according to TRA Research’s Brand Trust Report 2017. Peers Sony and LG have retained their second and third spots respectively.

TRA Research is part of the Comniscient Group, a diversified data insights and communications group.

For the first time, Apple finds a place in the top five trusted brands at No 4. Despite the corporate imbroglio, the Tata Group has managed to retain its fifth position and is also the highest-ranked home-grown company in the list.

The Brand Trust Report, now in its seventh edition measures the trust held in brands and has identified India’s 1,000 most trusted brands.

This year’s list has several prominent changes. Last year’s topper Samsung Mobiles has dropped to 156th position, while  Patanjali has leaped 158 places to rank 15 this year, leading the FMCG–diversified category. And while there are 320 new brands which have made it to the list, the most notable is Reliance Jio at No 19.

The top five rank gainers over last year are Mahindra Auto, US Polo, Kurl-On, Birla Sun Life, and Tops Security.

While the health of a company is determined by annual sales, the health of the brand is most often determined by the ‘trust’ and ‘loyalty’ that it enjoys from its customers.

In terms of categories, food & beverages was the leader with 161 brands, followed by FMCG with 128 brands and automobiles with 73 brands.

Some of the prominent category leaders in this year’s list are Bata (Rank 12), State Bank of India (Rank 13) Patanjali (Rank 15), Airtel (Rank 16) Amul (Rank 21), Google (Rank 40) Himalaya (Rank 57) and SpiceJet (Rank 172).

“The 17-rank climb of the consumer electronic brand Samsung to the top position and the 12-rank climb of Apple to fourth rank over last year are significant. Among the top ten this year, four brands have gained ranks, five brands have retained their last year’s ranks, and one brand has fallen. Of the 2016 list, four brands slipped out of the top ten list of 2017, namely Samsung Mobiles, Nokia, Godrej, and ICICI Bank,” says N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research.

(Reliance Jio is owned by Reliance Industries, which owns Network 18, the publisher of Forbes India.)