There are a number of large Indian companies that do business globally but none of them have a global brand. In fact, in the top 100 global brands, there is no Indian company, according to Ashish Mishra, Managing Director, Interbrand India.

The top 100 brand list is led by Apple, and the US alone has 57 companies followed by Germany, France, Japan and Britain. Even China had its entry with Huawei, he said in his keynote address at the 13th MMA All India Management Students’ Convention 2014.

Indian companies need to consider investing in brands as a long term benefit and stop looking at it as a cost. Creating a global brand is a major challenge facing Indian companies even as Interbrand is trying to help some of the large ones become a global brand, he said. Mishra urged companies to look at the five new Ps of the market.

They are pivotal (brands need to take the centre stage in a company), peerless (benchmarking), perception (relevance and drivers), pervasive (consistently available in all touch points) and purpose (to customer), he said.

Make in India

According to B Santhanam, President-Flat Glass, South Asia, Malaysia and Egypt and Managing Director, Saint-Gobain Glass India, and the chief guest at the event, there is a lot of optimism in the market since the new government took over at the Centre, and with the recent launch of the ‘Make in India’’ campaign.

“A year ago I would have said things are not that good. However, now there is clearly an interest and I feel optimistic about the future,” he said.

Notwithstanding the scepticism about the campaign, there is some amount of evidence that things are working and a lot of changes are underway, he said.

However, for the ‘Make in India’ campaign to succeed it is important that companies focus on the four main issues of customers, technology, people and brand. If they keep looking at land and reforms only, they will be left behind, he said.

Santhanam advised students to lay more emphasis on developing their skills. Unlike last year’s gloomy situation, this year’s batch, the students are lucky as there is a lot of opportunity for them, he said.

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