amsung Mobiles has emerged India’s ‘Most Trusted Brand’ followed by Sony and LG in a survey of top brands operating in the country. Interestingly, Nokia, which has not sold mobile phones ever since its acquisition by Microsoft in 2014 and faded out of the market, has been ranked fourth in India’s Most Trusted Brands of 2016 report released here on Wednesday. Tata is ranked fifth.
Honda, Bajaj, Dell, Godrej and ICICI Bank are ranked sixth to 10{+t}{+h}in the list respectively. The report, the sixth in the series, is prepared annually by TRA (formerly Trust Research Advisory).
“The report is the outcome of a comprehensive primary research conducted on our proprietary 61-attribute Trust Matrix. This year’s study, conducted over four months, involved 18,000 hours of field work with interviews of 2,500 people across 16 tier-I and tier-II cities in India,” Sachin Bhosle, research head, TRA, told The Hindu .
On Nokia, he said, “When we first introduced the report in 2011, Nokia was at the top. It remained India’s Most Trusted Brand till 2013. Then it plunged. Today, the brand is back again and has to be watched out for. It carries residual trust value and that is why it is still fresh in the mind.”
N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA, said Samsung Mobiles turned out to be the Most Trusted Brand because of its constant effort in bringing consumer value through ‘conscious pricing, great quality and exquisite designs’. He said some of the important category leaders in the report are ICICI Bank (banking, financial services and insurance), Oxford (education), Bharat Gas (energy), Dove (fast moving consumer goods), Pepsi (F&B), Dabur (healthcare), Google (Internet), Amitabh Bachchan (personalities), KFC (retail), Airtel (telecom), and SpiceJet (airlines).
In the category of alcoholic beverages, Kingfisher tops the list followed by Royal Stag. Among hatchback cars, Maruti Swift has climbed to the top, overtaking Tata Nano. In the four-wheeler luxury segment, BMW has bagged the top slot, followed by Audi, according to the report.
In fabrics, Raymond tops the list while Lee leads the casual wear list.
Among public sector banks, State Bank of India tops the list while ICICI Bank has bagged the top slot among private banks followed by HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Among airlines, SpiceJet has topped the list replacing last year’s category leader IndiGo, which is relegated to the third slot after GoAir.
Cavinkare has dethroned Emami as the most trusted brand in the FMCG-diversified category. The South-based brand has gained 447 ranks to bag the coveted title in the latest report.
Another South Indian brand that has made its presence felt in the ranking in aerated drinks category is Bovonto, which is ranked 11th. This category is dominated by Pepsi, Coco Cola, Sprite, Thums Up, and Mirinda in the top five positions.
Tanishq leads in the personal jewellery segment while Amazon tops in online shopping category followed by Snapdeal and Flipkart. Among diversified business groups Tata leads the list of Most Trusted Brands followed by Bajaj, Godrej, Reliance and Philips.
According to a TRA top executive, the brands to be watched out for this year across categories include Cavinkare, Micromax, Patanjali, Bovanto, Senco Gold, Hike and Yippee Noodles while the brands that have faded out of the list include J&J, Bikaji, Tata Nano, Jabong and Bisleri.
With the report based on the perception of just 2,500 respondents, this may not be the final word on the brands though.
