The 150-year old giant business conglomerate, House of Tatas, has retained its position as India’s number one brand in valuation firm, Brand Finance’s, annual study of India’s top 100 names. This is inspite of the four per cent fall in the Group’s brand value from $13.7 billion in 2016 to $13.1 billion in 2017, which many attribute to the Tata-Mistry boardroom drama.

David Haigh, CEO, Brand Finance, cleared the air saying that was not the case and that Tata’s brand strength index score had improved this year, with its rating upgraded from A+ to AA+. He said the drop was due to challenges faced by the ‘salt-to-software group’ as operating conditions in such industries were challenging for all participants, adding on a positive note, “As Tata’s new chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, settles in and attempts to streamline the conglomerate’s activities, we expect Tata to return to brand value growth soon.”

Other brands in the Top-10 list for 2017 are, at No.2: Airtel ($7.7 bn), No.3: LIC ($6.8 bn), No.4: Infosys ($6.2 bn), No. 5: SBI ($5.5 bn), No.6: Reliance ($4.8 bn), No.7: L&T ($4.6 bn), No.8: Indian Oil ($4.5 bn), No.9: HCL ($4.4 bn) and No.10: Mahindra ($3.5 bn).