India has moved up one position to become the world’s seventh most valued ‘nation brand’, with an increase of 32 per cent in its brand value to $2.1 billion. The US remains on the top with a valuation of $19.7 billion, followed by China and Germany at the second and the third positions respectively, as per the annual report on world’s most valuable nation brands compiled by Brand Finance. The UK is ranked 4th, Japan is at fifth position and France is sixth on the list. While India and France have moved up one position each since last year, all the top-five countries have retained their respective places.

Among BRICS nations, India is the only country to have witnessed an increase in its brand value with all others – Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa – seeing a dip in their respective brand valuations. However its value comes in large part from the country’s sheer economic scale. The US is world’s-leading higher education system and the soft power arising from its dominance of the music and entertainment industries are significant contributors too.

The nation brand valuation is based on five year forecasts of sales of all brands in each nation and follows a complex process. The Gross domestic product (GDP) is used as a proxy for total revenues.

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