Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, which became popular for its cheap data and calling plans, has emerged as the third most influential brand in India, a study has shown. The top two companies are not Indian. Google has emerged as the Most Influential Brand (MIB) in 2017, followed by Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, the study by Ipsos showed.
The MIB study, which ranks 100 brands across categories, evaluated companies on three parameters — trustworthy engagement, leading edge, and corporate citizenship and presence. In the top ten list, nine are technology and telecom brands, while Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali is the only FMCG company marking its presence at the 7th rank.
According to the study, Jio has turned out to be more influential in India than Facebook, which is at the 4th rank. Mukesh Ambani launched Jio in September 2016, and it has since then gained a significant position in the telecom market. In fact, Jio is the only company to post a profit in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2018-19.
Meanwhile, Ramdev’s Patanjali has also made a space for itself in the FMCG segment and is planning to expand its presence by joining hands with e-commerce websites as well. Flipkart is in the process of being acquired by American giant Walmart.
Top 10 influential companies:
1. Google
2. Amazon
3. Reliance Jio
4. Facebook
5. Flipkart
6. Samsung
7. Patanjali
8. Microsoft
9. iPhone
10. Apple
“Google has emerged as the Most Influential Brand (MIB) of circa 2017. And technology and e-tailing brands have taken up other places in the top five positions,” the study said. Barring one FMCG player, the rest are all technology and telecom brands, it added. Ipsos is an independent market research company.
