The study is an annual syndicated primary research conducted with 2,500 consumer-influencers across 16 Indian cities. TRA Research has been scientifically measuring buying propensity through its proprietary matrices of brand trust and brand attractiveness since 2010.

Leading the list, India’s most attractive brand is Samsung, the Korean mobile phone manufacturer, which also inaugurated the world’s largest mobile phone factory in Noida earlier this year.

Tata Motors, which has shown very good market performance recently, is ranked second, which is a phenomenal jump from 181st rank last year. Apple iPhone too jumped up from 92nd rank in 2017 to reach the third position. Reliance Jio, the three-year old disrupter telecom brand and already the third largest mobile phone network in India, ranks fourth among India’s most attractive brands and tops the mobile telephony category unseating last year’s leader Airtel. Maruti Suzuki is ranked the fifth most attractive brand in India, up two ranks over last year. The next five ranks among the top ten are Samsung (consumer electronics) at sixth, Dell (laptops) at seventh, SBI (bank – PSU) at eighth, Nike (sportswear) at nineth and Honda (four-wheeler) at tenth.

“Attractiveness or desire can be defined as the response to a sense of longing for anything - a product, brand, person or an outcome. When brands score high on TRA’s brand attractiveness research, they have successfully created similar subconscious pull. Such brands have intense magnetic power over the consumers. It is extremely gratifying to see that Indian brands have the maximum presence among the top 100”, said N Chandramouli, CEO, TRA Research, during the launch of the report.

He added, “Categories of gadgetry, mobile services, automobiles and consumer electronics have the largest average attractiveness index this year. All these categories are highly driven by individual personalities and this shows a rise in the self-awareness – a growing sense of purpose and social-worth of the Indian consumer.”

The report lists 286 categories under 34 super-categories. The other category leaders in this report are Levi’s (casualwear); Biba (ethnicwear-women); Siyaram (fabrics); Allen Solly (formalwear); MRF (tyres); ICICI Bank (bank-private); SBI (bank-PSU); HSBC (bank-foreign); visa (credit/ debit card); Fastrack (branded fashion); Gucci (luxury fashion); Kenstar (consumer appliances); Samsung (consumer electronics); Symphony (air coolers); LG (refrigerators); Samsung (washing machines); Philips (lighting); Odonil (air fresheners); Himalaya (baby products); Nippo (batteries); Coca-Cola (aerated beverages); Kit Kat (chocolate bar); Canon (cameras); Patanjali (Ayurvedic products); Moov (pain balm); Prestige (cookware); Roca (bath fixtures/ sanitaryware); Taj Hotels (hotels – premium); Google (internet search); Amazon (online retail); Ola (taxi aggregation); ACC (cement); Hero (cycles); Nike (sportswear); Titan (watches); DLF (real estate); FBB (fashion retail); Nataraj (writing accessories); Dell (laptops); Hewlett Packard (personal technology) and Jet Airways (airline – private).

India’s Most Attractive Brands 2018, the fifth in the report series, is the result of primary research based on the proprietary 36 attributes of attractiveness that have been studied and identified by TRA Research. This year’s research was conducted among 2,474 consumer-influencers across 16 cities and generated nearly 5 million data points and 5,000 unique brand mentions, out of which the top 1,000 brands have been listed. The 176-page, hardbound report is available for Rs 14, 000.

TRA Research, a Comniscient Group company, was conceived in 2008 and is a brand strategy and actionable brand insights company, dedicated to understanding and analysing stakeholder buying propensity. Buying propensity, made up of brand trust and brand attractiveness are the proprietary brand matrices of TRA.