A recent survey conducted by Ipsos shows that India is the 4th most economically confident country in the world. India also tops the list of the countries whose citizens are the most optimistic about economic growth in the next six months. Across the country, there is new found euphoria, confidence and spending. Within this euphoria however, is another telling story-that of the Indian brandwagon going full steam ahead. Home-grown players are busy fighting back for market supremacy to make their way to the top. They may have got left by the wayside, what with liberalisation in the 90s and the influx of MNCs with their deep pockets and sights set on burgeoningIndian middle class, but things are changing.These companies have built up brand equity and scale, similar to their foreign counterparts. They are commanding greater market shares and have managed to successfully tweak their pricing and marketing strategies. They aren’t shying away from taking on the competition. It’s not just the big corporate houses-TATAs, Mahindras, Birlas or Reliance and others but a slew of other such home-grown players who have gained mileage over time.Automotive companies like Hero, Mahindra, Bajaj and TVS have made significant strides. Banks like HDFC, ICICI, Axis have gained significant transactions. It’s not just legacy brands either, but young brands that are scaling up and giving behemoths a run for their money. So while market leader in the mobile handset business, Samsung, now has to contend with an aggressive Micromax in India,the fiercely competitive e-commerce space is witnessing its own wars between Flipkart and Amazon.

Despite Amazon announcing its intention to invest $2 billion in the Indian market, the portal has a tough fight on its hands, given how well entrenched some of the domestic players are.It would be extremely difficult to displace a behemoth like LIC in the Indian market. Similarly, as an airline,IndiGo has managed to build fantastic brand equity for itself. Or even for that matter, Dabur’s Real Juices taking on a Tropicana in the Indian market, refreshing its portfolio with new variants quite often. Parle Agro with its flagship brands Frooti and Appy has become nearly irreplaceable.Indians have discovered self-respect. This is a fertile soil for Indian brands. The younger generation no longer carries the burden of an inferiority complex. For example, when Hero MotoCorp took the bold step of breaking away from Honda, the brand campaigns thereafter, helped immensely in portraying the company as a national brand-working on the premise of being part of the nation building process. Another pertinent example is that of Voltas AC. When there was a significant brand re-positioning exercise in Voltas during 2005-06, it ran a multi-media campaign with the theme,India ka dil, India ka AC, but this failed to generate any meaningful traction when it came to sales.However, it did touch a chord with consumers.Interestingly,while foreign MNCs have thrived in the Indian market, home-grown companies seem to have a better hold of market dynamics when it comes to their rural strategy. Pricing is an important factor here. While small town India is on a spending binge and consumers are eagerly moving from unbranded to branded products, it doesn’t necessarily translate into quick sales. A number of foreign companies have followed a market skimming strategy, which doesn’t work after a point of time. Besides, the foreign tag is no longer aspirational.As Kiran Khalap,co-founder, Chlorophyll puts it, “Will Flipkart survive Amazon? IndiGo survive Air Asia? Or will Indian brands survive attacks from foreign brands? The answer is not just about muscle, it is about flexibility. A brand is only as vibrant as the product or service it offered this morning, not yesterday, not the day before and certainly not last year.”For now, though, move over MNCs. Indian companies are here to stay.

Reference:
Business India

Jaya
MBA-IT
IIIT Allahabad