Brands
Just six Indian brands among 20 most trusted brands
BENGALURU: The 2018 edition, or the eighth edition of TRA Research’s (TRA) The Brand Trust Report of the most trusted 1,000 Indian brands was released today in Bengaluru by TRA’s Research Director Sachin Bhosle. From over 9,000 unique brands, TRA has shortlisted 1,000 as the most trusted brands by Indians.
Among the top most trusted 20 brands across categories headed by the previous year’s leader Samsung, the first Indian brand to make it to the list is at rank 4–brand Tata. Keeping Tata company is Maruti Suzuki (rank 10), Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali (rank 13), Reliance (rank 14), Bajaj (rank 16) and Godrej (rank 17). Please refer to the figure below for TRA’s Brand Trust Index for India’s most trusted brands.
A TRA release says that The Brand Trust Report 2018, the eighth in its series, is the result of a comprehensive primary research conductedon the proprietary 61-Attribute Trust Matrix of TRA. This year’s study involved 15,000 hours of fieldwork,covering 2,488 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India; it generated 5 million datapoints and 9,000 uniquebrands, from which the top 1000 brands have been listed in this year’s report, claims TRA.
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Brands
Godrej clarifies ‘GI’ identifier after logo similarity debate
Says GI is not a logo, will not replace Godrej signature across products.
MUMBAI: In a branding storm where shapes did the talking, Godrej is now spelling things out. Godrej Industries Group (GIG) has issued a clarification on its newly introduced ‘GI’ identifier, addressing questions around its purpose and design following a wave of online criticism. At the centre of the debate were two concerns: whether the new mark replaces the long-standing Godrej logo, and whether its geometric design mirrors other corporate identities.
The company has drawn a clear line. The Godrej signature logo, it said, remains unchanged and continues to be the sole logo across all consumer-facing products and services. The ‘GI’ mark, by contrast, is not a logo but a corporate group identifier intended for use alongside the Godrej signature or company name, and aimed at stakeholders such as investors, media and talent rather than consumers.
The need for such a distinction stems from the 2024 restructuring of the broader Godrej Group into two separate business entities. With both continuing to operate under the same Godrej name and signature, the identifier is positioned as a way to differentiate the Godrej Industries Group at a corporate level.
The rollout, however, triggered a broader conversation on design originality. Critics pointed to similarities between the GI mark’s geometric composition and logos used by companies globally, raising questions about distinctiveness.
Responding to this, GIG said its intellectual property and legal review found that such overlaps are common in minimalist, geometry-led design systems. Basic forms such as circles and rectangles appear across dozens of brand identities worldwide, the company noted.
It added that the identifier emerged from an extensive design process and was chosen for its simplicity, allowing it to sit alongside the Godrej signature without competing visually. While acknowledging that elemental shapes may appear less distinctive in isolation, the group emphasised that the mark is part of a broader identity system that includes a custom typeface, sonic branding and other proprietary elements.
Following legal and ethical assessments, the company said it found no impediment to using the identifier, reiterating that the GI mark is a corporate tool not a consumer-facing symbol.
In short, the logo isn’t changing but the conversation around it certainly has.
