HDFC Bank has reclaimed the top spot from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in the list of country’s most valuable brands in 2025 after a three-year gap. Its brand value rose 18% over last year to reach nearly $45 billion, according to the Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Indian Brands report. The 2025 report includes 100 brands from the usual 75-100 brands.
TCS, which took the top spot for three consecutive years from 2022 to 2024, came in at second with a brand value of $44.2 billion. Airtel and Infosys maintained their rankings at three and four respectively. India’s top 10 brands alone contribute 47% of the ranking’s total value of the top 100, which stands at $523 billion or approximately 13% of India’s GD
Report on banking sector?
The report also notes that HDFC Bank has seen a whopping 377% increase in brand value since 2014 when the first BrandZ India report was unveiled. ICICI Bank climbed to the fifth spot this year, overtaking State Bank of India, which dropped to six.
India’s best performing sectors were BFSI, which accounted for around 28% of the top 100 brands, followed by B2B tech at 19% and telecom at 13%. With the list including ‘materials’ as a category for the first time, UltraTech Cement debuted at number 7 with a brand value of $14.5 billion.
Asian Paints, which was at number 8 last year, saw its brand value decline by 30% and took the 12th position.
Food delivery platform Zomato was the fastest growing brand for the second year in a row, with a significant 69% growth in its brand value.
How did newcomers fare?
In total, there were 18 newcomers this year, including retail brands like Westside and Zudio. It was also a good year for travel and hospitality brands with Taj recording a 55% rise in brand value, MakeMyTrip growing at 45% and IndiGo seeing 42% growth over last year.
In terms of overall brand value, growth was muted at 6% in 2025 compared to 19% in 2024. Soumya Mohanty, managing director & chief solutions officer, South Asia for Kantar, explained that with consumption slowing down towards the end of 2024, there has been some erosion in brand value among Indian brands this year.
“The real value of consumer equity has now come into play. The erosion will challenge brands in the future and only those that have invested in brand building will thrive,” she said. Brands that are able to unlock meaningful differentiation and drive disruption through innovation will thrive, she added.