Brand India And Its Future

The Brand Idea is the starting point which defines the philosophy, the ethos and the culture of the brand, which must then be reflected and manifested in each and every facet of the brand."
— M. S. Banga, Unilever

Brand India is a phrase used to describe the campaign India has launched to make it the most happening place in the world of Business and Commerce. India is well known world over for its unique culture amazing sights and hospitable people that made tourists come back to this country featuring its Unity in Diversity. Branding is all about creating differences. Branding involves creating mental structure and helping consumers organize their thoughts in a way that clarifies their decision making, and thus in the process provide value to the Brand. The brand assures quality of a product in the minds of consumers as it enjoys their confidence. Branding as a discipline offers an opportunity for companies, products and services showcase their abilities and worth. There is also the increasing realization to brand nations as tourists and investors have multiple choices before them.

At a macro-level, national branding reflects the national image based on a country’s positive values and perceptions. Since national image plays an important role in the tourism sector, several countries have been promoting international tourism through national branding, an example of which is ‘Malaysia- Truly Asia’. While the way a nation portrays itself globally is definitely very important for the tourism sector, branding also plays an important role for increasing the sales of manufactured goods as well and is now being seen as an important element in a nation’s Export strategy. Swiss watches, Italian Leather, German Cars are examples of successful quality products associated with the country names and famous worldwide. The nation brand – how a country is seen by others – is an important concept in today’s world. Globalization means that countries compete with each other for the attention, respect and trust of potential consumers, investors’ tourists, immigrants, the media and governments of other nations. A positive and strong nation brand provides a crucial competitive advantage. It is therefore very important for countries to understand how they are seen by people around the world across key dimensions.

Efforts To Brand India
Corporate India under the aegis of the CII and eight Indian ministries, led by the Tourism Ministry, have come together to showcase 60 years of Indian Independence to the US. In a weeklong exercise that kicked off on Sunday in New York, the financial capital of the world, leaders from corporate India such as the CII President and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, and the co-chairman of the Board of Infosys, Mr Nandan Nilekani, participated in a series of meetings to show that India cannot be ignored any longer.

Addressing a press conference on the eve of the Incredible India@60 campaign, that has earmarked a budget of $10 million to be shared equally by corporate India and the Government of India, Mr Mittal said this exercise was a "carry forward" from the initiatives that began in Davos in 2006 and continued to the subsequent year’s meet in January 2007. "This country (US) works on signals and finally they are getting the signal that the Indian economy is growing at an annual 8-9 per cent and we have planned a series of exercises in various fields that will leave a very strong impression of India — as a confident nation that is ready to engage with the world." Mr Nilekani, who is Chairman of the Incredible India@60 initiative, added that such a massive effort — the biggest ever in India’s history — had been timed to coincide with a session of the UN General Assembly in New York this week. The "unique collaborative effort" of business and government comprises 41 events, 13 conferences and panel discussion, nine cultural programs, and several dinners and receptions over four days, beginning Sunday.

CEOs from several American corporates participated in the various events, which also had partnership from Yale and Harvard Universities. Mr. Nilekani added that over the past 27 years that he had been dealing with the US, he had never seen "this kind of a huge interest in India, so this is the right time to undertake such an exercise. The argument always was that democracy is a luxury for a poor country like India... that argument has now been blown out. Even 15-20 years ago Indian companies were being asked ‘who are you’, but today we find a big sea change. "India now gets far more visibility and impact in the US," where not only the success of Indian entrepreneurs was being noted, but also the potential of the growing Indian consumer market.

Brand India and Exports:
The Ministry of textile has prepared a comprehensive proposal for the large scale brand development to achieve deeper and wider penetration in select markets and also to increase the acceptability of Indian apparels for increased export earnings. The whole effort would lead to generic promotion of ‘Brand India and the individual companies could take advantage of this by stepping up their own brand promotion in tandem. The governments expects that better branding would attract better FDI, something that has long eluded the textile sector. A Public-Private partnership approach is the appropriate strategy to develop globally accepted Indian apparel brands.

Clearly, India has come a long way during the past few decades. It is 60 years old as an independent nation and within this short period of time is almost nearing the double digit economic growth rates—especially for a country of over a billion people—have been enviable. The Indians are rightly proud of their achievements and trying their best to be the world leaders. India is emerging as one of the growing economies of the world now and commands attention which extends its potential. Not until recently has India's government given serious attention to the country's international image. Though the number of tourists and foreign investors grows apace, there is just not enough pre-existing brand equity among the world's consumers to inoculate Brand India. So, Brand India at this point of time is likely to draw fruitful results for the country.