Business
India Slips to 8th Rank in Valuable Nation Brand List
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India has slipped one spot this year, losing its previous rank to Canada in the Nation Brands 2017 report of Brand Finance.
India is ranked 8th on the latest list of most valuable nation brands, slipping one spot this year and ceding its previous spot to Canada. While India’s ranking reflects on the current economic slowdown in the country, Canada saw a growth of 14 per cent in its brand value. The United States retains its top position, according to the Nation Brands 2017 report of Brand Finance.
India’s National Brand Value in 2017 is $2.04 trillion, which is one per cent lower than last year’s $2.06 trillion. The country’s brand rating, however, has improved. It has gone from “AA-” to “AA”. Canada, with a brand value of $2,056 billion, has the rating of “AAA”.
India, however, did not make it to the list of 10 best performing nation brands. Since the limelight has been taken by China, the emergence of India as a top-tier investment destination has not got the attention it is supposed to warrant, according to the report.
India’s less than impressive track record of implementing change makes the nation look unstable, thereby affecting its future brand value, David Haigh, the CEO of Brand Finance, told the Business Standard, .
However, India had surpassed both the United States and China to top the list of greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) by volume in 2015, according to the report. Indian companies were also responsible for 272 overseas projects, which placed India third as an Asian source country for FDI, behind Japan and China, in 2016.
However, instability is not affecting only India’s brand value. It has had an impact on America’s brand value too. The perception of the United States in the world is waning, a phenomenon that the report largely attributes to the Trump administration. “However, perceptions of Donald Trump’s presidency are not exactly helping Brand America either. Trump’s administration is seen as increasingly unpredictable,” the report said.
The United States, with its macroeconomic challenges and slow Gross Domestic Product, has recorded a meager growth of 2 per cent. The country’s stagnation, contributed by the retirement of the baby boomer generation, is being challenged by China, which is moving at breakneck speed and closing the value gap between it and the United States.
America is followed by China, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. China, as the fastest growing nation brand, has seen a record rise of $3.1 trillion. However, China’s nation brand value is half of that of the United States. According to Haigh, sustaining the growth will be key to narrowing its gap with the United States.
The report also projected that Asian nation brands are seeing a boom as Western countries stagnate. Countries like Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, and Austria saw either a decline or a negligible growth of value.
Surprisingly, the UK wasn’t affected by Brexit as much as expected. “Growing concerns about Brexit’s impact on Brand Britain resemble the millennium bug mass scare of 1999,” Haigh said. “Although uncertainty has caused a slight drop in the UK’s brand strength, from a score of 86 to 85, brand value is on the up. Britain should now engage with the world to sustain that growth and dispel negative perceptions. As China and other Asian nation brands are booming, the government and the investors should take note.”
Iceland made it to the top of the 10 best performing nation brand’s list due to a hit TV show. The report said that Game of Thrones, which films most of its winter scenes in Iceland, is the reason for the country seeing a record 1.8 million foreign visitors in 2016. This is an increase of about 40 per cent from 2015.
Top 10 Valuable Nation brands:
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