MAM
Nokia, Tata remain India’s most trusted brands; Anna Hazare is top personality
BANGALORE: Nokia and Tata have retained their position as the top two trusted brands in India this year, according to a recent brand study.
Anna Hazare has surged, gaining the nation’s trust ahead of Sachin Tendulkar, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan who feature in that order.
According to the second edition of Brand Trust Report (BTR) released by The Comniscient Group’s Trust Research Advisory (TRA), Sony has slipped two positions to become the fifth most trusted brand, while LG and Samsung have moved up to the third and fourth positions.
The BTR India Report 2012 lists India’s 1000 most trusted brands. There are 22 personalities listed in BTR.
Reliance has slipped from its number six position last year to No.10, while Bajaj at No.7 has eased out Titan from the top 10 positions. LIC and Airtel have retained their last year’s positions of eighth and ninth ranks respectively.
TRA CEO N Chandramouli said, “In life, without trust, there is nothing. Each time a human engages with anything, the basis for all decisions is trust. Be it brands, other humans, or just ideas, one will react to them on the basis of the trust it generates. Last year was tumultuous for several brands, but those which focused on trust, have gained market-share, revenues and profits. On the other hand, the brands which have focused only on the latter, have invariably lost both. Focus on building trust and all else will follow automatically.”
Most Trusted leaders in some other categories are Armani in Branded Fashion, DLF in Construction, NIIT in Education, ONGC in Energy, PVR in Entertainment, Pepsi in F&B, Dabur in Healthcare, Taj Hotels in Hospitality, Google in Internet, ACC in Manufacturing, Thomas Cook in Services, Being Human in Social Sector, Hewlett Packard in Technology, and Air India in Airlines.
The BTR is an attempt to understand and simplify concepts related to Brand Trust – it tries to help decipher, analyse and measure trust as the basis for all human-based engagements and interactions.
The research has been carried out using TRA’s proprietary Trust Matrix comprising 61 different ingredients or components of trust. The research has been conducted with 2,718 ‘influencer’ respondents from 15 cities in India and is based on more than two million data points from 12,000 hours of research, said TRA.
MAM
Beacon Group appoints Dr Rajesh Patel as Group CEO
36-year healthcare veteran to lead Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek, Biogeny.
MUMBAI: A new chief, a fresh diagnosis and a sharper prescription for growth. Beacon Group has appointed Dr Rajesh Patel as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2026, signalling a decisive push to scale its presence in the diagnostics and IVD space. Patel steps into the role with 36 years of experience across the healthcare and diagnostics industry, bringing a career shaped by leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, business development and operational strategy. His mandate is both expansive and precise: to steer the group’s overall strategic direction while tightening coordination across its three core entities Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek and Biogeny Diagnostics.
In practical terms, that means driving cross-company synergies, accelerating market expansion and strengthening organisational capability areas increasingly critical as diagnostic players compete for scale in a fragmented yet rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem. The group is positioning itself to capture unmet demand across chain laboratories, key accounts and standalone labs, segments that remain underserved despite growing diagnostic needs.
The appointment comes at a time when the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) sector in India is entering a more competitive and innovation-led phase, with companies focusing not just on product pipelines but also on service delivery, integration and customer-centric models. Beacon’s leadership appears to be betting that Patel’s execution-focused approach can help translate ambition into operational momentum.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairman Dr D K Joshi described Patel’s induction as a strategic move aligned with the group’s long-term vision, emphasising the role of leadership depth in navigating the next phase of growth.
For Beacon Group, the message is clear, in a sector where precision matters, leadership is the new differentiator—and this appointment is intended to set the tone for what comes next.
