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India’s most valuable brands have collectively reached a valuation of $523.5 billion in 2025, growing 6% year-on-year and representing around 13% of India’s GDP, according to the Kantar BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2025 ranking released on Wednesday. The expansion of the list from 75 to 100 brands, along with the inclusion of 18 newcomers, reflects the rising strategic importance of brand strength in India’s economy.
After briefly slipping in the previous edition, HDFC Bank reclaimed its position as India’s most valuable brand with a brand value of $44.99 billion, an 18% rise over last year. As India’s largest private sector lender, the bank has now grown 377% since the first BrandZ India report in 2014, driven by long-term investments in digital experience, technology upgrades, and consumer-facing innovations such as the “Vigil Aunty” fraud-awareness persona.
Kantar BrandZ Top 10 Most Valuable Indian Brands 2025
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HDFC Bank — $44.99bn
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Tata Consultancy Services — $44.23bn
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Airtel — $41.07bn
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Infosys — $25.54bn
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ICICI Bank — $20.63bn
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State Bank of India — $18.81bn
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UltraTech Cement — $14.52bn
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Jio — $14.05bn
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HCLTech — $12.83bn
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LIC — $10.35bn
The Top 10 brands together account for 47% of the total value of the 2025 ranking, underscoring the concentration of brand equity in India’s BFSI and technology sectors.
Kantar’s expanded analysis shows that India’s brand landscape remains structurally different from global peers. Financial services contribute 27% of India’s Top 100 brand value, far higher than the 9% share within global Top 100 brands. In contrast, technology, which fuels 60% of global brand value, constitutes just 25% of India’s Top 100.
The report notes that despite India’s booming digital economy, tech-driven brands still lag significantly behind global giants in both international scale and premium pricing power, creating a long runway for growth.
18 Newcomers Enter the Ranking
The inclusion of 18 new brands, many from the newly assessed Materials category, signals shifting economic priorities. Cement brands, powered by India’s infrastructure cycle, debuted strongly:
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UltraTech Cement (No. 7; $14.52bn)
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Bangur Cement (No. 40; $3.1bn)
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Ambuja Cement (No. 65; $2bn)
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JK Cement (No. 72; $1.8bn)
UltraTech’s rise stems from a deliberate shift from B2B-heavy communication to consumer-focused storytelling targeting individual home builders.
In retail, Westside (No. 38; $3.3bn) and Zudio (No. 52; $2.5bn) marked strong first-time entries, highlighting the momentum in value-driven fashion and organised retail expansion.
For the second year in a row, Zomato topped the list of India’s fastest-growing brands, climbing 10 ranks to No. 21 with a 69% surge in brand value, taking it to $6 billion. The food-tech brand leveraged adjacency expansion, from food delivery to lifestyle and dining, to cater to urban consumers’ growing demand for convenience.
Travel brands are among this year’s top risers, as India’s ‘experience economy’ accelerates, with luxury hotel brand Taj (No.43; $2.9bn, +55%) and India’s largest airline, IndiGo (No.24; $5.1bn, +42%) all posting significant gains, together with online travel leader MakeMyTrip (No.56; $2.4bn, +45%). Automotive manufacturer Mahindra (No.23; $5.5bn) also increased its brand value by 53%, capitalising on rising demand for experience-led services such as off-roading drives and road trips tailored to SUV enthusiasts and adventure seekers.
Automotive brand Mahindra also saw a 53% increase, thanks to consumer enthusiasm for SUV-led exploration and off-roading experiences.
Brand Value Growth Driven by Meaningful Difference
A key theme in the report is “Meaningful Difference,” Kantar’s metric that evaluates how well a brand meets consumer needs while also standing apart in its category. The analysis shows that brands that strengthened both Meaning and Difference recorded a 145% higher growth rate than those that declined on these measures. Despite this, 31% of India’s Top 100 brands still have room to improve their Meaningful Difference scores, nearly three times the global benchmark of 11%, pointing to substantial untapped brand-building potential.
Brands that stand out for their unique value and relevance consistently outperform others. Brands that survived the rankings since 2019 delivered an extra 29% brand value growth on the back of delivering both Meaning and Difference. Standout examples include HDFC Bank’s focus on innovation, Taj Hotel’s dedication to heritage and service excellence, and Royal Enfield (No.57; $2.4bn), which fosters deep brand loyalty through immersive community experiences, like its Motoverse event in Goa.
Notably, brands that remained in the Top 75 since 2019 and strengthened both Meaning and Difference grew their value 2.5X faster than those that did not.
Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director & Chief Solutions Officer, South Asia, Kantar, added, "Our analysis confirms that brands can outperform market conditions, even in the face of headwinds, when they are built on a foundation of deep consumer understanding. These resilient brands don’t just survive - they grow by staying closely aligned with evolving consumer needs and expectations. In today’s landscape, understanding how consumers experience and interpret your brand is no longer optional, it’s a strategic imperative. Sustained measurement and actionable insights enable brands to forge stronger customer connections, maintain relevance and secure long-term competitive advantage.”
Premium Pricing
India’s premium pricing trajectory remains an outlier in global markets. While strong brand equity typically supports higher margins, only 19% of India’s Top 100 brands fall into the “Justified Premium” quadrant, which is half the global proportion. Meanwhile, 35% of Indian brands remain in the “Margin Opportunity” category, indicating under-leveraged pricing power.
Kantar notes that many Indian brands underprice themselves despite strong demand and equity, leaving “money on the table.”
FMCG Brands Show Long-Term Resilience
Despite volatility across categories, long-established FMCG brands continue to deliver steady long-term growth. A 20-year analysis of consistent performers shows that staples such as Surf Excel, Patanjali, Tata Tea, Colgate and Parachute have increased their brand value by 68% to 105% since 2019. Their trajectory underscores the power of sustained brand-building which is driven by consistent communication, persistent media investment and deep emotional relevance with consumers.
Sectoral Winners
Across sectors, Kantar highlights significant shifts:
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Travel services, buoyed by pent-up demand and experiential lifestyles, recorded some of the highest jumps.
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Telecom providers, especially Airtel, benefited from 5G expansion, payments innovation and AI-led fraud detection.
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Materials, led by cement brands, became the most prominent new contributor to total brand value.
Conversely, FMCG and consumer tech categories saw more muted momentum, reflecting inflationary pressures and intense competition.
India Maintains Four Spots in Global Top 100
India continues to place four brands in the Global Top 100 in 2025, though overall overseas contribution remains low at 23%, signalling limited international scale.
TCS, Infosys, Airtel and HDFC Bank remain India’s most globally competitive brands, but experts say Indian brands need to aggressively pursue global markets to unlock higher valuations.
Summarising this year’s results, Deepender Rana, Executive Managing Director, South Asia, Kantar, noted while the overall brand value growth has slowed to 6%, India’s ten fastest growing brands grew by an average of 42%, which is an astounding seven times faster. “This outperformance is largely due to investment in driving meaningful difference, innovating and staying close to the needs of the consumers. While there is pressure to push short term sales via performance marketing, Kantar’s BrandZ rankings are proof that marketers and board rooms alike can rest assured, knowing their investment in brand building delivers great shareholder returns.”