Vijay Mallya may be going through a tough time but he has some reason to cheer as the Kingfisher Beer brand, owned by his United Breweries, continues to top the most trusted alcoholic beverage brands list. According to the Brand Trust Report 2018 released on Wednesday, Kingfisher Beer, Black Dog and Budweiser are the top three most trusted alcoholic beverage brands.
Kingfisher Beer has maintained its leadership position and remains the leader for the last eight years of the Brand Trust Report, TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli said. Kingfisher is the flagship brand of United breweries Ltd. United Breweries had, in August last year, announced that its Chairman Vijay Mallya has ceased to be director of the company to comply with capital market regulator Sebi's order against him.
Mallya, who had fled to London in March 2016, is wanted in India for the defunct Kingfisher Airlines' default on loans worth nearly Rs 9,000 crore owed to a consortium of banks. The other liquor brands which appear in the top 10 list are Royal Stag, Signature, Johnnie Walker ranked at number four, five and six, respectively.
Carlsberg, Blenders Pride, Tuborg and Imperial Blue are the other brands which figure in the list. Over 2,450 respondents participated in the survey conducted by TRA Research across 16 cities and its findings have been compiled in The Brand Trust Report 2018.
South Korean consumer durables firm Samsung, followed by Sony and LG are India's most trusted brands. Tata Group, the only Indian company to feature in the top five and US-based Apple occupy the fourth and the fifth ranking.
Among India's 1,000 Most Trusted brands, the categories with the maximum brands were food and beverage and FMCG contributing to 25.6 per cent of the total brands in the listings. When compared to last year, 320 new brands made it to the list, 368 brands fell in rank, 307 brands rose in rank, and five brands retained their ranks, it said.
(With inputs from PTI)