India’s 100 most valuable brands now worth $523.5 billion, finds Kantar BrandZ report

India’s brand landscape has entered a new phase of maturity and ambition, as revealed in Kantar BrandZ’s 2025 ranking of the country’s 100 most valuable brands. Together worth $523.5 billion, the Top 100 now account for roughly 13% of India’s GDP, according to the report released on Wednesday.

The findings underscore not only the scale of India’s branded economy but also the widening gap between brands that merely endure and those that invest in meaningful differences to grow faster.

HDFC Bank has reclaimed its long-held position as India’s most valuable brand, rising 18% to nearly $45 billion. The bank’s brand value has surged 377% since the first India BrandZ ranking in 2014.

This trajectory, the report notes, has been fuelled by a steady push into digital experiences and consumer education, including initiatives such as its Vigil Aunty persona that aims to combat financial fraud. In doing so, HDFC Bank has set a benchmark for how legacy institutions can stay relevant through sustained innovation.

Tata Consultancy Services follows closely at No. 2 with a value of $44.2 billion, trailed by Airtel at No. 3 with $41.1 billion. The telecom operator is one of the year’s standout performers, rising 38% year on year as it pushes further into 5G, secure payments, and fraud detection.

Infosys and ICICI Bank round off the top five, reaffirming the dominance of financial services and business technology within India’s branded economy.

According to the full BrandZ presentation, these two sectors together account for the largest share of overall value, reflecting India’s BFSI-heavy profile when compared with global rankings.

A year of newcomers, cemented by cement

One of the most striking shifts in this year’s list is the arrival of 18 newcomers, including a newly recognised category of materials brands.

UltraTech Cement makes an immediate impact, debuting at No. 7 with a value of $14.5 billion. The report attributes UltraTech’s momentum to its growing resonance among individual home builders, supported by emotional storytelling and one-stop retail solutions that simplify the complexity of home construction.

Bangur Cement, Ambuja Cement and JK Cement also enter the Top 100 for the first time, a collective reflection of India’s infrastructure-led economic moment.

Retail, too, sees new representation through Westside and Zudio, signalling the rise of premium and affordable fashion segments in an increasingly brand-conscious consumer society.

The fastest risers compete on meaning and innovation

For the second year running, Zomato emerges as India’s fastest-growing brand. It climbs ten places to No. 21 after boosting its brand value by 69% to touch $6 billion.

Zomato’s expansion beyond food delivery into lifestyle adjacencies, including its integration of the District by Zomato dine-out app, has helped it tap into evolving expectations around convenience and value.

Travel brands also feature prominently among the risers. Taj grows 55%, reaching $2.9 billion, while IndiGo rises 42% to $5.1 billion.

MakeMyTrip climbs sharply as well, aided by AI-powered planning tools and flexibility-oriented products such as its Farelock feature.

These gains stand in contrast to the category-level shifts outlined in the BrandZ deck, which highlight travel services as one of the few sectors showing a positive uplift within the Top 75 since last year.

Mahindra records a 53% increase, driven by experience-led offerings geared towards SUV enthusiasts. This reflects a broader trend of brands emphasising emotional and experiential differentiation, a theme that Kantar identifies as central to long-term resilience.

Why meaningful difference now matters more than ever

A core narrative running through this year’s BrandZ report is the erosion of meaningful difference among Indian brands. The presentation shows a long-term decline in the proportion of brands considered high on meaningful difference since 2014, signalling increased parity across categories.

Yet the analysis also demonstrates that brands which improved either their meaning or difference since 2019 enjoyed nearly double the growth of those that did not, and those that improved both saw a 2.5 times advantage.

Soumya Mohanty, managing director and chief solutions officer for South Asia at Kantar, notes that the findings reinforce the role of consumer understanding as a strategic imperative rather than a marketing accessory.

She argues that brands with deeper insight into how people interpret and experience them are better positioned to stay relevant, forge stronger connections and secure a durable competitive edge.

Deepender Rana, Executive Managing Director for South Asia, adds that although overall growth slowed to 6% this year, the 10 fastest-growing brands expanded at an average rate of 42%.

This, he believes, proves that consistent brand building still delivers superior returns even when short-term pressures encourage a tilt towards performance marketing.

India’s global footprint remains modest

Despite the scale of value creation at home, Indian brands continue to have limited global presence. The BrandZ deck reveals that only four Indian brands figure in the 2025 global Top 100, a number unchanged from last year.

Indian brands’ overseas contribution stands at 23%, well below many global peers. This contrast underscores the headroom for international expansion, particularly for technology, consumer platforms, and premium brands, which have historically been the engines of global brand growth.

A branded economy still in transition

India’s Top 75 brands have grown 151% since 2014, outperforming the Sensex and Nifty indices. Yet the broader BrandZ analysis indicates that many Indian brands still underprice their equity.

Thirty-five per cent of India’s Top 100 sit in what Kantar terms a margin opportunity space, suggesting that stronger pricing power could be unlocked if more brands invested in building distinctive value. Only 19% currently justify a higher price, roughly half the global proportion.