HLL has held on the top slot consistently since the survey was kicked off in 1992, while Titan has bounced back to the number one position this year after slipping one slot last year.

According to the survey, now in its seventh year, the second most admired marketing company is HLL's arch rival Procter and Gamble. Pepsi Food was at number three slot with Britannia a close fourth, followed by Nestle.

Pepsi has moved up two slots, but the surprise rank jumper was Britannia, which moved up six positions this year. In contrast, Nestle, a one-time number two, has slipped to its lowest level in seven years. Last year, it has slipped to number four slot.

Among the most admired durables companies, BPL lost its 1997 number one slot to move to second position. The third, fourth and fifth positionswere occupied by MRP, Maruti and Asian Paints.

Curiously, the top positions in list of most admired FMCG marketers were occupied by companies with multinational principal, while the domestic companies dominated the top slots in the list of most admired durables companies.

The results of the survey is published in the A&M issue dated September 30, 1998, along with detailed analysis of 66 players, both in terms of the overall perception of them as well as held by Indian marketing community, and also how they rated on 12 individual marketing parameters.

Further analysis of results showed that ITC is trying to wriggle back to the top slots in the pecking order in the list of FMCG companies. ITC has moved up to number 6 position after falling to number 11 position.

The survey added that in the detergents segment, at the top, "it's an HLL versus P&G duel, with the former widening the gap". Nirma and Godrej Soaps are almost out of reckoning.

In foods, Britannia has outscored Nestle on all parameters excepta couple, while Cadbury is the year's biggest rank loser, falling five places to number 8. The most nail biting rivalry is seen in soft drinks. Though Coca-Cola, overall, is at number 7 and thus a few places below Pepsi, it is as aggressive a climber and has managed to beat the new generation hero on half the individually assessed parameters. Pepsi's only decisive lead was in advertising.

The list of durables companies has seen dramatic change in the last five years. Videocon, which was at number 2 position in the first survey, has crashed to a lowly number 29. Onida which was at number 4 position then, has slipped to number 33 slot now.

The survey was carried out in Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai and Bangalore. The respondents were drawn from all levels of managerial staff of FMCG and durables companies.