India has moved up one position to become the world’s seventh most valued ‘nation brand’, with an increase of 32 per cent in its brand value to $2.1 billion according to the annual report on world’s most valuable nation brands compiled by Brand Finance, a leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy. The US remains on the top with a valuation of $19.7 billion, followed by China and Germany. The UK is ranked 4th, Japan is fifth and France is sixth on the list. While the top-five countries have retained their respective places, India and France have moved up one position each since last year. But the surge of 32 per cent in India’s ‘nation brand value’ is the highest among all the top-20 countries on the list. China has retained its second position despite a decline of one per cent in its brand value to $6.3 billion. Brand Finance said it measures the strength and value of the nation brands of 100 leading countries using a method based on the royalty relief mechanism employed to value the world’s largest companies. The nation brand valuation is based on five year forecasts of sales of all brands in each nation and follows a complex process. The Gross domestic product (GDP) is used as a proxy for total revenues. The report also said that India’s ‘Incredible India’ slogan has worked well, while Germany suffered due to Volkswagen’s emission rigging scandal. It said the US remains a powerful brand with an inviting business climate. “However its value comes in large part from the country’s sheer economic scale… The US’ world-leading higher education system and the soft power arising from its dominance of the music and entertainment industries are significant contributors too. This soft power will help the US to retain the most valuable nation brand for some time after China’s seemingly imminent rise to become the world’s biggest economy,” it said.
