Why brand value still feels optional in India

Consider Apple. The iPhone is priced far above most smartphones, not because its components are radically different, but because the Apple brand carries meaning. That meaning shows up as trust, aspiration and loyalty, and ultimately as pricing power and long-term value.

This invisible premium people are willing to pay is brand value. In India, however, this idea of brand as a business asset has taken time to sink in.

For decades, branding in India has largely been seen as a logo, an advertising campaign or a marketing expense. While global companies increasingly treat brand as a financial asset, many Indian promoter-led firms are still catching up.

According to Ashish Mishra, CEO of Interbrand India and South Asia, this mindset has been slow to change, though the shift has clearly begun.

“About 60% to 70% of our clients go long with us. Repeat work is the biggest proof that you’ve made a difference.”

Ashish Mishra

Interbrand is a brand consultancy that helps companies build, value and manage brands as business assets. “When we started the India office 12 years ago, brand was not even a boardroom conversation,” Mishra says. “For most business owners, brand would rank 11th or 12th in priority, far below growth, profitability or technology.”

The problem, he explains, is historical. Marketing in India evolved under the shadow of advertising agencies. Brand became synonymous with communication and design, rather than value creation. Decision-makers who grew up in that system still struggle to unlearn it.

“Brand equalled advertising, advertising equalled logo. That equation stayed for far too long,” Mishra says.

Making brand matter to business owners

Interbrand entered India with a deliberate focus on brand valuation, not design. The aim was to make brand relevant to promoters by tying it directly to money.

“If you want brand to matter at the board level, you have to speak the language of finance,” Mishra says. “Once you show that brand creates economic value, interest automatically follows.”

That thinking led Interbrand India to launch the Best Indian Brands study in its very first year. It was an unusual move for a young office, but necessary in a market where branding itself was still nascent.

“Many companies end up with 15 or 20 brands that delivered a blip for two quarters and then stagnated. Nobody wants to kill them because even a small volume feels worth holding on to.”

Ashish Mishra

Over time, several structural shifts have helped change attitudes.

The first is global ambition. Indian companies expanding overseas want to be recognised as global brands. Brand valuation becomes unavoidable when businesses aspire to feature in global rankings or attract international investors.

The second is premiumisation. While mass demand has been uneven, premium segments have continued to grow. “If you want to charge a premium, brand is what allows you to do that,” Mishra says.

The third is shareholder accountability. With more listed companies, private equity investments and global ownership structures, businesses are under pressure to demonstrate long-term value creation, not just short-term performance. Brand increasingly plays a role in signalling that value to the market.

Brand valuation and M&A conversations

One of the clearest shifts has come through mergers and acquisitions. Interbrand has worked on several brand valuations linked to deals, helping companies account for brand goodwill during due diligence.

“We have done multiple valuations where the selling side wanted to capture the full value of the business,” Mishra says. “Without brand valuation, that value simply disappears from the conversation.”

Interbrand has conducted brand valuations in transactions involving Eureka Forbes, IDFC and luxury designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee. In such cases, brand equity directly influenced deal terms and shareholder outcomes.

Cleaning up India’s brand clutter

Beyond valuation, a large part of Interbrand’s work today involves brand architecture and portfolio simplification, especially for legacy Indian companies.

India has a long history of brand proliferation, where companies launch multiple product brands for short-term gains. Over time, this creates operational complexity and weakens the master brand.

“Many companies end up with 15 or 20 brands that delivered a blip for two quarters and then stagnated,” Mishra says. “Nobody wants to kill them because even a small volume feels worth holding on to.”

Interbrand follows a principle Mishra calls “monolithic by default”. The assumption is that there should be one strong brand unless there is a compelling reason to create another.

“As technology makes products easier to replicate, everything starts looking the same. When that happens, the only sustainable differentiation left is brand.”

Ashish Mishra

This approach has guided projects for large Indian groups including Godrej and Britannia. In both cases, research showed that consumers were buying primarily because of the master brand, even when product brands appeared more visible on packaging.

“People were saying ‘Godrej chicken’ even after years of investment behind product brands,” Mishra recalls. “That tells you where the real power lies.”

How Interbrand works with clients

Interbrand India typically works with 20 to 25 active projects at any given time and focuses on long-term partnerships, rather than high-volume engagements. Its clients include companies such as Godrej, Britannia, BPCL, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Cohance and Soframycin.

“About 60% to 70% of our clients go long with us,” Mishra says. “Repeat work is the biggest proof that you’ve made a difference.”

Clients often enter through different doors. Some begin with brand valuation, others with internal culture or brand strategy. Over time, these engagements expand into identity, architecture and portfolio work. Companies such as JSW Group and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India are examples of long-term relationships that evolved across multiple brand mandates.

Unlike advertising agencies, Interbrand relies largely on inbound interest, rather than speculative pitching. In certain areas, such as brand valuation and architecture, Mishra says the firm faces limited competition due to the technical rigour involved.

Why brand will matter even more

Mishra believes emerging technologies such as AI will eventually increase the importance of branding, rather than reduce it.

“As technology makes products easier to replicate, everything starts looking the same,” he says. “When that happens, the only sustainable differentiation left is brand.”

In a future shaped by commoditisation, brand may once again move up the priority list for Indian companies. This time, not as a logo or campaign, but as a serious business asset.

Photo by Laurenz Heymann on Unsplash