Nokia and Tata have retained their first and second positions as India's two top trusted brands this year in the Brand Trust Report 2012 .
The report, which lists India's 1,000 most trusted brands, is based on primary research conducted on 61 components of trust – a proprietary tool of Trust Research Advisory. The research is conducted with 2,718 ‘influencer' respondents from 15 cities, generating more than 2 million data-points from 12,000 hours of research.
Sony, the Japanese electronics giant , has slipped to fifth position this year, outranked by the two aggressive South Korean chaebols, LG at third and Samsung on fourth position.
Maruti Suzuki has improved its position by one notch and is India's sixth most trusted brand this year. Bajaj, ranked se{+v}{+e}{+n}{+t}{+h}, is a new entrant in this year's top ten (last year it was ranked 12{+t}{+h}); LIC and Airtel are unchanged from last year, at eighth and ninth ranks, respectively. Reliance has slipped to the 10{+t}{+h} most trusted brand this year (from sixth last year).
Among 22 personalities listed in the report , Anna Hazare has surged, gaining the nation's trust ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan who feature in that order.
Most trusted leaders in other categories include Armani in branded fashion, DLF in construction, NIIT in education, ONGC in energy, PVR in entertainment, Pepsi in F&B, Dabur in healthcare, Taj Hotels in hospitality, Google in internet, ACC in manufacturing, Thomas Cook in services, Being Human in the social sector, Hewlett Packard in technology, and Air India in airlines.
purvita@thehindu.co.in