Samsung has emerged as the most trusted brand in India, followed by Sony and Tata, according to Brand Trust Report, India Study 2014 (BTR 2014). Nokia which occupied top slot in BTR 2013 is now down to fifth position. LG is at fourth spot.



The report was released on January 30 (Thursday).



Interestingly, Hewlett Packard has jumped 14 places to become the sixth most trusted brand.



The study is the fourth in its series and the result of research conducted on the proprietary 61-Attribute Trust Matrix of TRA (formerly known as Trust Research Advisory). This year's study involved 2,500 consumer-influencers across 16 cities in India and generated 5 million data-points and 20,000 unique brands from which the top 1,200 brands were culled. The brands have been classified in 284 different categories against 213 categories in 2013.



A look at all the reports shows Samsung steadily climbing from the fifth spot in 2011 to its current position.



Another key finding of the report is that Hero has clearly emerged as a brand distinct from Honda. The former has leapt seventy-nine ranks to become India's 7th most trusted brand. Honda is at No. 8 followed by Reliance and Mahindra. Mahindra, last year, was in 69th position.



Another interesting revelation from the report is that all luxury four-wheeler brands have taken a big hit in this year's ranking. "BMW is at No. 150 compared to No. 4 last year. Audi has fallen from 14th to 323rd positions this year. Skoda tops the category at 56th rank, though it was 29th last year and Mercedes has climbed 249 position to the 90th rank this year," said N. Chandramouli, CEO, TRA.

