ICICI Bank only Indian firm on top 100 global brands list

Software giant Apple has emerged as the world's most valuable brand surpassing search engine major Google, while ICICI Bank is the lone Indian company to feature in the list of top 100 global brands.

With a brand value of $14.9 billion, India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank is ranked at the 53rd position in the league of world's 100 most valuable brands compiled by global brands agency Millward Brown.

This is the second straight appearance for ICICI bank in annual BrandZ study.

Interestingly, the report said that with a rise of 27% in brand value to $8.2 billion, India's Infosys was one of the most valuable technology brands in the world and is expected to soon rank among the top 100 most valuable global brands across all sectors.

The iPhone maker's brand is valued at $153.3 billion, an 84% increase since last year. Besides, Google's brand is now valued at $11.5 billion, a 2% fall from 2010.

IBM has bagged the third position with a brand value of $100.84 billion followed by McDonalds ($81.01 billion) and Microsoft ($78.24 billion).

The BrandZ index calculates brand value on several factors, such as an estimate of the brand's contribution to earnings, valuation of intangible assets, measures of customer perception and an estimate of growth potential.

The brand rankings are dominated by technology companies, with six out of the top 10 places cornered by Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, AT&T and China Mobile.

Facebook entered the top-100 list for the first time at Number 35 with a brand value of $19.1 billion. Besides, Citi's scored the 47th spot with a brand value of $15.67 billion.

Other brands in the list include, Coca-Cola (6th), Vodafone (12th), Toyota (27th), HSBC (28th), Colgate (55th), Pepsi (63rd), Intel (58th) and Samsung (67th).