India Shining. India and China and emerging markets. India all set to take its rightful place on the global scene. And so on…
Brandchannel writes about the Interbrand / businessweek survey of top 100 global brands for this year and points out that there is no single Indian brand in that list. Where are Indian brands on the global stage?
Specifically, their question is – how is it that the fastest growing free market democracy hasn’t produced a global brand to rank among the top 100 of the world?
They have a discussion forum open and you can read other comments and contribute your own thoughts here.
I have been thinking about this – are there any Indian brands that can be called truly global? Or have the stature to become big in the global scene?
I can only think of local brands which have been so popular that they have acted as props for MNC brands which have entered the market – Thums Up, for instance. And of MNC brands which have been around for so long and have indianised themselves so much that they are believed to be local, Lux and Bata, for instance.
As for brands strong enough to be featured in a global list, I cannot think of any. Are our car manufacturers ready? Will Tata make it with their recent exports thrust and their budget car plans?
Or is this because this list is of products and not services – is Infosys for instance a global brand? Is technology / software a product that can be mesured and included in such surveys?
What do you think? Are there any Indian-global brands that come to your mind?
Brands would to me go beyond just products and services – a brand is an intangible asset which allows me to charge a premium for whatever I do. It’s uniquely me.
if that is so, there are a few global Indian brands
Ayurveda
The Indian Techie (asok in Dilbert) funnily though, the indian techie became a brand by not charging a premium and continues to be pretty cost effective
IIT/IIM possibly?
But the biggest brand from India could even be India itself.
Hi ravages
Going by your definition, Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan could also qualify as globally recognised and respected Indian brands. So could Kerala as a tourist destination (God, I hate the “God’s Own Country” tagline). Moser Baer produces some 5 per cent of the world’s CDs, but does it qualify as a global brand? I’d like your take on that. I would say the Tata group is definitely a world-renowned brand.
Charu
I’m not surprised that no single Indian brand, as in product, made it to the top 100. How many Indian corporates work consciously to make a mark on the global scene? The garment export sector does business worth tens of thousands of crores every year but how many of them work towards to establishing an internationl brand like, say Levi or Lee? Our companies are happy doing job work for foreign companies, why bother with creating brands. Ditto for Infy, TCS, Wipro….practically all IT firms. Over to you.
hi everybody
global brands really mean the brands that reach the maximum population for it credibility and content as far as indian products are concerned they reach the maximum people but content and quality wise the products lag behind what s called global brands
as far as software products are concerned indians and indian software govern the whole world but its not very clear whether the service sector s also considered in this survey, Over to you.
okay, i know this has nothing to do with this particular post – but i like your blog name. “i blog, therefore i am”, eh? nice work!
also, i like the pictures in some your earliers post… 🙂
Good point. Can’t see any real Indian brands….but the TATA’s with their car might just make it. AFAIK….there isn’t any other real Indian brand in any major consumer product. But “Bollywood” is a brand of sorts…..
I hope you’re feeling much better now.
Hi charu
How are you? Ammani mentioned your blog and here I am. Great blog. Keep up the good work.
Get well soon. Keep in touch
Regards,
Bubby
You have posed an interesting question. Makes me wonder too– with so much hoopla about India, how do we not have an internationally recognzied brand, but then again, what is really a brand??
I’d rate Bollywood and Punjabi Bhangra/music as probably India’s strongest contribution to global brands. Bhangra started as an underground sub-culture, but has been internalized globally now.
What are your thoughts?
global brands are not created overnight. it’s hardly likely that a country that opened its doors to the global market about 15 years ago should have global brands. the nehru-mahalanobis “import-substitution” economic philosophy was never designed to yield global brands; none of our brands before the 90s were ever designed for or marketed to global markets.
indian companies will need time and investment to build global consumer/customer understanding before they can effectively market to this audience. i would wait another decade before venturing a guess on the first truly global indian brand. let me also add that any brand that is absent in the world’s largest economies (US, europe, china/japan) is unlikely to ever qualify – much as i like bollywood, therefore, i wouldn’t bet on it qualifying. and to think tata is “world renowned” is being naive.
sorry for this delayed reply… I think the reason for this is that India has opened up to the world only recently, and we have never thought about a “world class” brand so far… it is an interesting quetsion about what is a brand. If spirituality can be considered a product that India has successfully “exported” to the rest of the world, then the Oshos and Matas and Sri Sris of India are truly world class brands… as for conventional products, I cannot think of any… Tata may make a mark soon on the price factor, but competing with international brands on quality…hmm, I doubt it..
I think the problem lies in the attitude of the top management. If they truly understand the need to have a brand which is truly global in its outlook, the problem is solved overnight. However, brand building is not dependent on your promotional expenditure but it depends on pleasant customer experience globally and this will take time.
india in itself is a brand. this needs to be spread and felt. it cannot be done overnight by campaigns and catchy slogans. what is needed is mass promotion ….globally and at rapid rate.how that’s the big question .let our leaders speak more of it at international conferences and ag gurus create the magic….
Hello everybody!!
Today India is yet a developing country, thats only because of the prevailing politics. Let a day come where the educated will be placed in the right designation(Strategic),and the literacy rate increases to a certain level. No doubt, India will shine with all its beauty and power.
its just that india opened up to the world 15 years ago. every brand needs some incubation before making a mark on the global stage. so guess will have to just wait and watch!!!
I’m satisfied with all above mentioned comments but I would like to add here that all of you talking about that we r not on up to date position in the world but my dear friends just think about that US has took over 200 year to achieve this position and if We talk about Indian brand these days India is only hub after china for any business and you can see the growth rate of forex since 1991 it gorows by more than 20% a year also see the service sector growth, Indian brands like Aditya Birla Group, Tata Group, and Videocan which are acquiring world one of the best organisation so it take some time to come in top 100 global brand and also think about the Indian politics which plays major role as a one of the big obstacle in the growth