Brands
Samsung Mobile leads in TRA’S Most Attractive Brands’ list
MUMBAI: India’s Most Attractive Brands Report 2018 (MAB 2018), in its fifth edition, has listed the country’s most attractive 1000 brands, based on TRA’s proprietary model of brand attractiveness. The study is an annual syndicated primary research conducted with 2500 consumer-influencers across 16 Indian cities. Leading the pack, India’s most attractive brand is Samsung, the Korean mobile phone manufacturer, which also inaugurated the world’s largest mobile phone factory in Noida earlier this year.
Tata Motors, which has shown very good market performance recently, is ranked 2nd all-India, with a phenomenal jump from 181 rank last year. Apple iPhone, ranked 3rd this year, having jumped up from the 92nd rank in 2017. Reliance Jio, the three-year-old disrupter telecom brand and already the third largest mobile phone network in India, ranks 3rd among India’s most attractive brands and tops the mobile telephony category unseating last year’s leader, Airtel. Maruti Suzuki is ranked the 5th most attractive brand in India, up two ranks over last year. The next five ranks among the top ten are Samsung (consumer electronics) at 6th, Dell (laptops) at 7th, SBI (Bank – PSU) at 8th, Nike (sportswear) at 9th and Honda (four-wheeler) at 10th.
“Attractiveness or desire can be defined as the response to a sense of longing for anything – a product, brand, person or an outcome. When brands score high on TRA’s brand attractiveness research, they have successfully created similar subconscious pull. Such brands have intense magnetic power over the consumers. It is extremely gratifying to see that Indian brands have the maximum presence among the top 100,” said TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli, on the launch of the report. He expanded that 49 Indian, 18 American, six South Korean, six Japanese & two Chinese brands made it to the top 100.
Chandramouli further added, “Categories of gadgetry, mobile services, automobiles, and consumer electronics have the largest average attractiveness index this year. All these categories are highly driven by individual personalities and this shows a rise in the self-awareness – a growing sense of purpose and social-worth of the Indian consumer.”
The report lists 286 categories under 34 super-categories. The other category leaders in this report are Levi’s (casualwear), Biba (ethnicwear-women), Siyaram (fabrics), Allen Solly (formalwear), MRF (tyres), ICICI Bank (bank-private), SBI (bank-PSU), HSBC (bank-Foreign), Visa (credit /debit card), Fastrack (branded fashion), Gucci (luxury fashion), Kenstar (consumer appliances), Samsung (consumer electronics), Symphony (air coolers), LG ((refrigerator), Samsung (washing machines), Philips (lighting), Odonil (air fresheners), Himalaya (baby products), Nippo (batteries), Coca-Cola (aerated beverages), Kit Kat (chocolate bar), Canon (cameras), Patanjali (ayurvedic products), Moov (pain balm), Prestige (cookware), Roca (bath fixtures/sanitaryware), Taj Hotels (hotels –premium), Google (internet search), Amazon (online retail), Ola (taxi aggregation), ACC (cement), Hero (cycles), Nike (sportswear), Titan (watches), DLF (real estate), FBB (fashion retail), Nataraj (writing accessories), Dell (laptops), Hewlett Packard (personal technology) and Jet Airways (airline – private).
Brands
33 per cent of women believe the salary scale is rigged: Naukri report
Voices @ Work study finds rising calls for equal pay audits and lingering bias
MUMBAI: Progress may be visible in India’s workplaces, but many women still feel the need to tread carefully. A new report by Naukri reveals that one in two women hesitate to disclose marriage or maternity plans during job interviews, worried that such information could influence hiring decisions.
The findings come from the second edition of Naukri’s annual Voices @ Work International Women’s Day report, titled “What Women Professionals Want.” Drawing insights from more than 50,000 women across over 50 industries, the survey sheds light on evolving workplace aspirations alongside the biases that continue to hold women back.
One of the report’s most striking insights is the growing demand for equal pay audits. The share of women calling for regular pay parity checks has climbed to 27 per cent this year, up from 19 per cent a year ago. The demand now stands alongside menstrual leave as the most sought after workplace policy.
Interestingly, the call for pay transparency grows louder higher up the income ladder. Nearly half of women earning between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore annually say equal pay audits are a priority, suggesting that pay gaps become more visible as women move up the career ladder.
At the same time, confidence and ambition appear to be rising. About 83 per cent of women say they feel encouraged to pursue leadership roles, a significant jump from 66 per cent last year. Cities in southern India appear particularly supportive, with Hyderabad leading the way as 86 per cent of respondents there reported encouragement to step into leadership positions. The education sector recorded the highest sense of encouragement at 87 per cent.
Yet the report also highlights a growing trust deficit around pay equity. Nearly one in three women, or 33 per cent, say they do not believe men and women are paid equally at their workplace. That figure has risen from 25 per cent last year, pointing to widening perceptions of disparity as careers progress.
Bias in hiring and promotions continues to be the biggest hurdle. About 42 per cent of respondents say workplace bias is the main challenge for women from diverse backgrounds. The concern is consistent across major metros, with Chennai and Delhi NCR reporting similar levels.
Reluctance to discuss personal milestones during hiring processes is also widespread. While 34 per cent overall said they hesitate to share marriage or maternity plans in interviews, the anxiety increases with experience. Among professionals with 10 to 15 years of work experience, the figure rises to 40 per cent.
Info Edge group CMO Sumeet Singh, said the data reflects both progress and unfinished work. “Behind every data point in this report is a woman who is ambitious. The fact that 83 per cent feel encouraged to lead is something to celebrate. However, the fact that one in two still hide their marriage or maternity plans in interviews tells us the work is far from done. As India’s leading career platform, it felt not just important but necessary for us to shine a light on these gaps through the second edition of our report,” he said.
The report suggests that while ambition among women professionals is growing, structural changes around pay transparency, fair hiring and supportive policies will be key if workplaces hope to keep pace.
