15 TOP PERFORMING INDIAN BRANDS FOUNDER

1. Tata Group
Brand Value: Rs 742.18 billion 

Founder: Jamsetji Tata

The founder of tata group is Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata (3 March 1839 – 19 May 1904) was an Indian industrialist. Born on March 3, 1839, in the sleepy town of Navsari in Gujarat, he was the first child and only son of Nusserwanji Tata, the scion of a family of Parsee priests. Many generations of the Tatas had joined the priesthood, but the enterprising Nusserwanji broke the mould, becoming the first member of the family to try his hand at business.

Raised in Navsari, Jamsetji joined his father in Bombay when he was 14. Nusserwanji got him enrolled at Elphinstone College, from where he passed in 1858 as a 'green scholar', the equivalent of today's graduate. The liberal education he received would fuel in Jamsetji a lifelong admiration for academics and a love of reading. Those passions would, though, soon take a backseat to what Jamsetji quickly understood was the true calling of life: business. 

Some Interesting  Facts About Jamsetji Tata

• He was born to a Parsi Zoroastrian family in Navsari, which was then part of the princely state of Baroda

• He was born the same year as the American industrialist John D Rockefeller and set up his company around the same time as Rockefeller set up his own

• After graduating from college in 1858, he joined his father's trading firm and worked in his father's company until 29 years of age. He then founded a trading company in 1868 with Rs 21,000 capital.
• He devoted his life to four goals: setting up an iron and steel company, a world-class learning institution, a unique hotel and a hydro-electric plant.
• The city of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand is named in honour of Jamsetji. The old village of Sakchi set up by Tata's iron and steel plant (now urbanised) still exists within the city of Jamshedpur as its suburb

2. Airtel
Brand Value: Rs 350.44 billion
Founder: Sunil Mittal

The founder of airtel group is Sunil Bharti Mittal (born 23 October 1957) is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur, philanthropist and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, which has diversified interests in telecom, insurance, real estate, education, malls, hospitality, Agri and food besides other ventures. Bharti Airtel, the group's flagship company is one of the world's largest and India's second-largest telecom company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa with a customer base of over 399 million. Bharti Airtel clocked revenues of over US$14.75 billion in FY2016. He is listed as the 8th Richest person in India by Forbes with a Net worth of $8.3 Billion.

In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour. On 15 June 2016, he was elected as Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Some Interesting Facts About Sunil Mittal 

• He brought India's first telephone set thus replacing the rotary phone.
• Sunil Mittal also launched India's first fax machines and its first cordless telephones in 1992
• Sunil Bharti Mittal started his first business in April 1976 at the age of 18, with a capital investment of Rs 20,000 borrowed from his father.
• His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers.
• He is superstitious about the number 23, as he was born on the 23rd.

3. Reliance Industries
Brand Value: Rs 349.24 billion

Founder: Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, popularly known as Dhirubhai Ambani (28 December 1932 – 6 July 2002) was an Indian business tycoon. who founded Reliance Industries in Bombay and appeared in The Sunday Times top 50 businessmen in Asia. Ambani took Reliance public in 1977 and was worth $25.6 billion^[3] upon his death on 6 July 2002. In 2016, he was honoured posthumously with the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honour for his contributions to trade and industry. Dhirubhai married Kokila, and they had four children; Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Nina Bhadrashyam Kothari and Dipti Dattaraj Salgaocar. He migrated to the then British colony of Aden at age 17 where his brother was working. He initially served as a clerk at A. Besse & Co., which then was the largest transcontinental trading firm east of Suez. He worked as an employer in Yemen, then came to India with ₹50000 and started a textile trading company in 1958.

Some Interesting Facts About Sunil Mittal 

• He started his first entrepreneurship by selling chaat-pakoda to pilgrims at Mount Girnar in Gujarat.
• Most of the modern day's businessmen have heavy degrees with them, but do you know about the qualification of this biggest business tycoon of India? It’s 10th standard only!
• At the age of 16, he made his first foreign trip in 1955 to Aden in Yemen as he left his home to join his brother- Ramniklal.
• His first office was 350 Sq. Ft. room at the Narsinathan Street in Masjid Bunder, Mumbai. The office had 2 tables, 1 telephone and 3 chairs.
• He expanded his company’s business to textiles in 1968 with the brand name- Vimal.
• On 12 January 2007, a Hindi Film– Guru by Mani Ratnam was released, which was loosely based on his life. His role was played by Abhishek Bachchan in the film.

4. HDFC Bank
Brand Value: Rs 240.06 billion

Founder: Hasmukhbhai Parekh

Hasmukh Thakordas Parekh (10 March 1911 – 1994) was an Indian financial entrepreneur, writer and philanthropist. He played a role in the development of Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India, now ICICI Bank founded the Housing Development Finance Corporation, and in 1992 was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to the finance industry in India. The London School of Economics also conferred on him an honorary fellowship.

Some Interesting Facts About Hasmukhbhai Parekh

• During his early life, he lived in a chawl with his father.
• He subsequently worked as a lecturer at St. Xavier's College, Bombay, for three years
• HTP, as he was called by all.
• He is inarguably the father of home finance or mortgage lending in India.

5. LIC
Brand Value: Rs 236.05 billion

Founder: Government Of India

The Government of India (ISO: Bhārat Sarkār), often abbreviated as GoI, is the union government created by the constitution of India as the legislative, executive and judicial authority of the union of 29 states and seven union territories of a constitutionally democratic republic. It is located in New Delhi, the capital of India.

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is an Indian State-owned Insurance Group and Investment Corporation owned by Government of India

The Life Insurance Corporation of India was founded in 1956 when the Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act that nationalised the Insurance industry in India. Over 245 Insurance Companies and Provident Societies were Merged to create the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation.

6. The State Bank of India (SBI)

Brand Value: Rs 232.21 billion

Founder: Bank Of Calcutta

The Bank of Calcutta (a precursor to the present State Bank of India) was founded on 2 June 1806, mainly to fund General Wellesley's wars against Tipu Sultan and the Marathas. It was the first bank of India and was renamed Bank of Bengal on 2 January 1809.

The Bank of Calcutta and the two other Presidency banks the Bank of Bombay and the Bank of Madras amalgamated(combine on 27 January 1921 and the reorganized banking entity assumed the name Imperial Bank of India. The Reserve Bank of India, which is the central banking organization of India, in the year 1955, acquired a controlling interest in the Imperial Bank of India and the Imperial Bank of India was renamed on 30 April 1955 as the State Bank of India.

7. Infosys
Brand Value: Rs 230.64 billion
Co-Founder: N.R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh, N. S. Raghavan, Ashok Arora.

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy (born 20 August 1946) is an Indian IT industrialist and the co-founder of Infosys, a multinational corporation providing business consulting, technology, engineering, and outsourcing services. Murthy studied electrical engineering at the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore, and MTech at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

Before starting Infosys, Murthy worked with Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad as a chief systems programmer and Patni Computer Systems in Pune (Maharashtra). He started Infosys in 1981 and served as its CEO from 1981 to 2002 and as chairman from 2002 to 2011. In 2011, he stepped down from the board and became Chairman Emeritus. On 1 June 2013, Murthy was appointed as Additional Director and Executive Chairman of the board for a period of five years.

8. ICICI
Brand Value: Rs 166.59 billion

Founder: Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI)

ICICI Bank was established by the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI), an Indian financial institution, as a wholly-owned subsidiary in 1994. The parent company was formed in 1955 as a joint-venture of the World Bank, India's public-sector banks and public-sector insurance companies to provide project financing to Indian industry. The bank was founded as the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank before it changed its name to the abbreviated ICICI Bank. The parent company was later merged with the bank.

ICICI Bank launched internet banking operations in 1998.

9. Mahindra
Brand Value: Rs 156.78 billion

Co-founders: Jagdish Chandra Mahendra, Kailash Chandra Mahindra, Malik Ghulam Muhammad.

Jagdish Chandra Mahindra (commonly referred as J. C. Mahindra (c 1892–1951) was an Indian industrialist and co-founder of Mahindra & Mahindra in 1945, with Kailash Chandra Mahindra and Malik Ghulam Mohammed. He is the grand-father of Anand Mahindra, the present Chairman of Mahindra Group.

Born in Ludhiana, Punjab, India, he was the eldest of nine children. The loss of his father at an early age placed the responsibility for the family on his shoulders. He believed strongly in the power of education and ensured that all his brothers and sisters studied hard. He sent his brother K. C. to Cambridge.

Kailash Chandra Mahindra commonly referred to as K.C. Mahindra (c 1894-1963) was an Indian industrialist. Kailash Chandra Mahindra, known to all as KC, was born in 1894 in Ludhiana, Punjab, the second of nine children. When their father died at an early age, his older brother JC became head of the family, and KC his best friend and future business partner.

Malik Ghulam Muhammad CIE was a Pakistani financier who served as the third Governor-General of Pakistan, appointed in this capacity in 1951 until being dismissed in 1955 due to health conditions. He co-founded Mahindra & Mohammed in 1945 (later Mahindra & Mahindra in 1948) with Jagdish Chandra Mahindra and Kailash Chandra Mahindra.

10. Godrej
Brand Value: Rs 153.88 billion
Co-founders:Ardeshir Burjorji Sorabji Godrej, Pirojsha Burjorji Godrej 

Ardeshir Burjorji Sorabji Godrej (1868–1936) was an Indian businessman. With his brother Pirojsha Burjorji, he co-founded the Godrej Brothers Company, the precursor of the modern Godrej Group.

Ardeshir was born in 1868 as the first of six children to Burjorji and Dosibai Gootherajee. The Gootherajee's were a wealthy Parsi-Zoroastrian family of Bombay (now Mumbai), and Ardeshir's father Burjorji and grandfather Sorabji dealt in real estate. In January 1871, his father had the family name changed to Godrej.

Pirojsha Burjorji Godrej (1882-1972) was an Indian businessman, son of Burjorji Godrej and brother of Ardeshir Burjorji Godrej. Projsha with his brother Ardeshir laid the foundation for the international conglomerate Godrej Group. Pirojsha was the son of Burjorji Godrej and a member of the Parsi community. He was born into a wealthy Parsi-Zoroastrian family of Bombay (now Mumbai), called Gootherajee. Burjorji later changed the family name to Godrej in January 1871.

Working with his elder brother Ardeshir Godrej, Pirojsha made Godrej a household name in India.

11. Wipro
Brand Value: Rs 139.69 billion

Founder: Muhammed Hashim Premji

Chairman: Azim Hashim Premji

In 1945, Muhammed Hashim Premji incorporated Western Indian Vegetable Products Ltd, based at Amalner, a small town in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra. It used to manufacture cooking oil under the brand name Sunflower Vanaspati, and a laundry soap called 787, a byproduct of oil manufacture. In 1966, on the news of his father's death, the then 21-year-old Azim Premji returned home from Stanford University, where he was studying engineering, to take charge of Wipro. 

 It used to manufacture cooking oil under the brand name Sunflower Vanaspati, and a laundry soap called 787, a byproduct of oil manufacture.

Azim Hashim Premji (born 24 July 1945) is an Indian business tycoon, investor, engineer, and philanthropist, who is the chairman of Wipro Limited. He is informally known as the Czar of the Indian IT Industry. He was responsible for guiding Wipro through four decades of diversification and growth to finally emerge as one of the global leaders in the software industry. In 2010, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He has twice been listed among the 100 most influential people by TIME Magazine, once in 2004 and more recently in 2011.

12. Larsen & Toubro
Brand Value: Rs 134.89 billion

Founder: Henning Holck-Larsen, Søren Kristian Toubro

Henning Holck-Larsen (4 July 1907 – 27 July 2003) was a Danish engineer who co-founded the Indian engineering firm Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

Henning Holck-Larsen was educated at the University of Copenhagen (and what is now the Technical University of Denmark). He came to India in 1937 as a chemical engineer working for F. L. Smidth & Co. of Copenhagen. Partnering with his former schoolmate and fellow employee Søren Kristian Toubro, he set up Larsen & Toubro in 1938. The idea of L&T was conceived during a holiday in Matheran, a hill station near Bombay. Holck-Larsen was a risk-taker while Toubro was more conservative. Larsen and Toubro saw opportunities in India at a time, when few Europeans had realised the country's potential for industrial growth.

Søren Kristian Toubro (27 February 1906 – 4 March 1982) was a Danish engineer who co-founded the engineering firm Larsen & Toubro, an India-based conglomerate. Toubro began his career as a civil engineer. As an employee of F. L. Smidth & Co. of Copenhagen, he came to India in 1934 to erect and commission the equipment supplied to the Madukkarai Cement Works (near Coimbatore) and the Rohri Cement Factory (near the Sukkur Barrage in Sindh). Sometime after landing in India, he read a report in The Bombay Chronicle that quoted Mohandas K. Gandhi as saying: "(I am) not leading a movement to rid India of its white colonial masters in order to substitute them with brown ones." Toubro felt that such an India would "offer great opportunities to anyone with modern technological and management skills."

13. Bajaj Auto

Brand Value: Rs 121.78 billion

Founder: Jamnalal Bajaj

Jamnalal Bajaj (4 November 1884 – 11 February 1942) was an Indian industrialist, a philanthropist, and Indian independence fighter. He founded the Bajaj Group of companies in the 1920s, and the group now has 24 companies, including six that are listed on the bourses.

In 1898, when Jamnalal Bajaj was born into a poor Marwari family, as the third son of Kaniram and Birdibai, in a village named Kashi Ka Bas, near Sikar, Rajasthan. He was later adopted as a grandson by Seth Bachhraj and his wife Sadibai Bachhraj, a rich Rajasthani merchant couple hailing originally from Rajasthan but settled in Wardha, Maharashtra. Seth Bachhraj was a distant relative on his father's side and was a well-known and respected trader in the British Raj.

Some Interesting Facts About Jamnalal Bajaj

• He was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, who is known to have often declared that Jamnalal was his fifth son.
• Jamnalal Bajaj Award was established in 1978 by the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation and are given away each year on his birth anniversary.
• Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies is one of the top Indian management school.

14. Maruti Suzuki

Brand Value: Rs 115.63 billion 

Founder: Government Of India

Maruti Udyog Limited was founded by the Government of India in 1981, only to merge with the Japanese automobile company Suzuki in October 1982. The first manufacturing factory of Maruti was established in Gurgaon, Haryana, in the same year.

Further, Maruti Udyog Ltd was incorporated through the efforts of Dr V. Krishnamurthy.

In 1982, a license and joint venture agreement (JVA) was signed between Maruti Udyog Ltd and Suzuki of Japan. At first, Maruti Suzuki was mainly an importer of cars. In India's closed market, Maruti received the right to import 40,000 fully built-up Suzuki in the first two years, and even after that, the early goal was to use only 33% indigenous parts.

15. Axis Bank

Brand Value: Rs 101.32 billion

Founder: UTI Bank

The bank was founded in December 1993, as UTI Bank, opening its registered office in Ahmedabad and corporate office in Mumbai.UTI Bank began its operations in 1993 after the Government of India allowed new private banks to be established. The bank was promoted in 1993 jointly by the Administrator of the Unit Trust of India (UTI-I), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation, National Insurance Company, The New India Assurance Company, The Oriental Insurance Corporation and United India Insurance Company. The first branch was inaugurated on 2 April 1994 in Ahmedabad by Dr Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister of India.

In 2001 UTI Bank agreed to merge with Global Trust Bank, but the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) withheld approval and the merger did not happen. In 2004, the RBI put Global Trust into moratorium and supervised its merger with Oriental Bank of Commerce.