Ambani Now Tops Brand Guardianship Among Indians, Ranked Second Globally

The chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd. has surpassed Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Google’s Sundar Pichai to rank second globally, trailing only Tencent’s Huateng Ma.

According to the publication, the Brand Guardianship Index is a global recognition of CEOs who are creating long-term business value while balancing the needs of all stakeholders—employees, investors, and society as a whole.

N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, is ranked fifth, up from eighth in the 2023 rankings. He is followed by Mahindra & Mahindra’s Anish Shah at number six and Infosys’ Salil Parekh at number sixteen.

Ambani was also ranked second in the global rankings for 2023.

This year, he was ranked first in the Brand Guardianship Index 2024 among ‘Diversified’ conglomerates.

Ambani was ranked ahead of global leaders such as Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Tesla’s Elon Musk.

According to Brand Finance’s survey, Ambani has a BGI score of 80.3, which is slightly lower than Huateng Ma of China-based Tencent.

Brand Finance creates a balanced scorecard of measures to identify the factors that best reflect CEOs’ ability to act as stewards of their company’s brand and long-term value.

According to this year’s analysis, ESG has emerged as the single most important factor influencing CEO reputation.

Being regarded as ‘a sustainability champion’ accounts for 14% of the variation in reputation scores, ahead of factors such as perceived trustworthiness (12.5 percent), having ‘a strong strategy and vision’, and global recognition.

According to Brand Finance, the role of a brand guardian is to increase brand and business value.

It is a global recognition of CEOs who forge win-win partnerships to build a sustainable future, transforming the CEO role from ultra-competitive entrepreneur to collaborative diplomat.

The Brand Guardianship Index honours CEOs who balance commercial success, long-term brand development, and personal reputation management.

Brand Finance employs a balanced scorecard of measures to assess a CEO’s ability to serve as the guardian of their company’s brand and steward of long-term shareholder value.

The Brand Guardianship Index consists of ‘perception’ factors, which reflect current perceptions; ‘performance’ factors, which reflect the tangible outcomes of these perceptions; and ‘promotion’ factors, which support future perceptions and performance.

Jio, a relatively new brand, was recently named the strongest brand in India in Brand Finance’s latest report, ‘Global 500: 2024,’ beating out decades-old Indian brands such as LIC and SBI.