Google remains India's most trusted internet brand for the third year in a row, but the gap with the second-ranked Facebook is a mere 3%, according to a study by Trust Research Advisory.
The group’s Brand Trust Report India Study 2013 covered 19,000 unique brands across 211 categories.
The research shows that Google (All India rank 44) fell 13 ranks and Facebook (All India rank 48) gained 17 ranks to bridge the gap.
One significant change is that the number of brands represented in the internet category this year has gone up to 25 from just 14 in 2012, showing a direct increase in the trust internet based exchanges have begun to garner.
"Two reasons online brands rely significantly on trust more than any other,” said N. Chandramouli, CEO of Trust Research Advisory. “Firstly, the exchanges are without any physical interface, and secondly, the online world is cluttered with choices that make loyalty ephemeral.”
Chandramouli added that with most of the new brands entering the Most Trusted list this year being from online shopping or internet services, there will be no stopping this sub-category from seeing accelerated growth over the next 12 months.