TCS emerges as third most valued IT brand, IBM leads race

--Cognizant follows close to be 4th most valued brand, jumps 13 position to reach 26th position

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), today announced that it has broken into the list of the Top 3 most valuable brands in the IT Services industry, in an assessment done by Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation firm.

"Just five years ago the TCS brand had achieved a major milestone, emerging as one of the big four brands in the IT Services sector. Through sustained growth in their brand value, they have now moved up one spot and consolidated their place along with IBM and Accenture at the top of the sector's foodchain," said David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance.

He added "This represents an absolutely stellar performance, adding an annual average of nearly a billion dollars in brand value across the seven-year tenure of their previous CEO N. Chandrasekaran."

TCS was also rated as the industry's highest brand strength rating of AA+ and contributes to 69 per cent of the value of the larger Tata Brand. Over the past year, TCS has also been recognized for running marketing programmes in Europe and featured as a top 100 brand in the US.

"The foremost driver of our brand has always been the strong talent we have in the company along with a culture of customer centricity, innovation and consistent business performance. We will continue to invest in strategic initiatives towards all these areas, to further strengthen our brand position." said Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services.

Though TCS has entered the top three rank, its rank in the overall ranking has come down by one rank. For 2017 TCS ranked 25th, a rank down from 24 last year.

Nasdaq listed Cognizant was the fourth most valued brand among the IT services players. The company jumped 13 positions to reach 26th rank from its last years 39th ranking.

In 2016 TCS strengthened its portfolio of brand partnerships by being appointed as the Official Technology Partner to the Virgin Money London Marathon and as title partner to the world's largest cross country race.

In a recent survey, 98.6% of its clients stated that the TCS Amsterdam marathon has significantly strengthened the company's brand in the Netherlands.

At the World Economic Forum at Davos last month, TCS launched a brand campaign titled #DigitalEmpowers ? highlighting the role of technology as a force for good.