CNBC Awaaz Consumer Awards 2008 names top Indian consumer brands

Mumbai: The CNBC Awaaz consumer awards 2008 were held at Mumbai last evening, felicitating the most preferred consumer brands of India, based on research by The Nielsen Company.

Guests of honour presiding over the function were the minister for consumer affairs and public distribution, Sharad Pawar, and the minister for civil aviation, Praful Patel. The presenting partner for the function was ICICI credit cards, with ICICI Bank executive director Vaidyanathan also present for the awards ceremony.

The awards were based on research conducted by research organisation, The Nielsen Company, who conducted research across 17 product and service categories across the country in 21 cities, and 84 rural locations. The study covered 10,000 respondents across all strata of society to arrive at the most preferred brands.

Additional citations for contribution to their respective fields were also awarded, with Bollywood star Akshay Kumar being awarded the title of 'Brand Ambassador of the year', IPL commissioner Lalit Modi being awarded for transforming cricket in India, and state owned telecom company BSNL being inducted into the 'Hall of Fame' for its contribution.

The awards spanned the product and service categories including consumer durables, telecom, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), financial services, retail and automobiles.

The contenders and winners of the title of 'most preferred brand' in each category were as follows:

Most preferred financial services brand:

• Banks: The winner was State Bank of India from among the Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, and Canara Bank.
• Life insurance policy: There were only two contenders in this category, Bajaj Alliance, and Life Insurance Corporation, which was chosen the winner
• Credit card: Of the three contenders, HDFC Bank credit cards, SBI credit cards, and ICICI credit cards, ICICI credit cards was adjudged the winner.
• Home loan: Again, only three contenders competed in this category, ICICI home loans, SBI home loans, and HDFC home loans. SBI home loans won the award in this category.
• Auto loan: State bank of India, HDFC bank, and ICICI bank competed for this honour, with ICICI Bank bagging the award.

Most preferred Telecom provider:

• Cellular service provider: All the pan-India players competed in this category, including Reliance, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, BSNL and Airtel. Airtel was the winner of the award.
• Handset provider: Top handset manufacturers including Sony Ericsson, LG, Nokia, and Motorola competed for the award, with Nokia emerging the winner.

Most preferred Retail brands:

• Multi-brand food retail chain: Amongst retail giants Reliance Fresh, Subhiksha, Big Bazaar, and Vishal Megamart, Big Bazaar emerged the winner. Pantaloon Retail chairman Kishore Biyani accepted the award.
• Fast food and beverage chain: Barista, McDonalds, Coffee House, Café Coffee Day, and Pizza Hut competed for this award. Café Coffee Day, where a lot can happen over coffee, emerged the winner of the category.
• Lifestyle brand: Three prominent brands, Agni, Asmi and Tanishq competed in this category, with Tata Group company Tanishq bagging the honour.

Most preferred Consumer durables brand:

• White goods brand: From amongst Godrej, Whirlpool, Videocon, LG and Samsung, Indians trust LG as their preferred brand for white goods.
• Consumer electronics brand:  From amongst BPL, Sony, LG, Samsung and Onida, LG once again emerged the winner, dominating the entire consumer durables category.

Most preferred FMCG (Fast moving consumer goods) brand:

• Personal care brand: Competitors included Dabur, Colgate Palmolive, Reckitt Benckiser, Hindustan Unilever, and Procter and Gamble (P&G). The winner was Hindustan Unilever.
• Food and beverage brand: Parle, Tata Tea, Nescafe, and Lays were part of this category, with Parle emerging the winner.
• Home care brand: Nirma, Procter and Gamble (P&G), Hindustan Unilever, and Kanpur Trading Company competed in this category, with Hindustan Unilever once again emerging the winner.

Most preferred Automobile brand:

• Car brand:  Auto majors Maruti, Tata, Hyundai and Honda were part of the competition for this title, which was won by Maruti.
• Two-wheeler brand: Hero Honda, Bajaj, Honda and TVS were the choices given to the Indian consumer, from which he picked Hero Honda as the preferred two wheeler brand.