Tata Motors has emerged as the Number 1 brand in the latest X Index India Report for the second year in a row in Havas CX India’s proprietary customer experience (CX) barometer. Interestingly, two more prominent brands from the Tata Group including Tata Cliq Luxury and Taj Hotels, also feature in the top 10.
The study is presented by Havas CX India, the specialised customer experience vertical of Havas India. The report underscores a critical inflection point for brands: the growing gap between the promises they communicate and the everyday experiences they deliver, leading to a rising impact of ‘CX Debt’.
Indian consumers today demonstrate a sharper, more discerning approach to brand choice. Loyalty is increasingly shifting toward brands that carry the least CX Debt, the accumulated cost of small but repeated experience failures, rather than those that remain unaware of this widening divide. The X Index India report explores this shift in depth, revealing how trust is now built, tested, and sustained in real time.
Now in its seventh year globally, The X Index is powered by a proprietary research framework designed to identify and measure the most critical drivers of customer experience. The 2025 edition surveyed 59,000 consumers across 8 global markets—the US, UK, France, Mexico, India, Germany, and Spain, evaluating the CX performance of 580 brands.
This year, the index assessed brands across 19 metrics spanning 4 key dimensions: Functional, Emotional, Personal, and Collective. It examined experiences across bricks-and-clicks brands as well as digital-first players, and included a comprehensive scorecard evaluating touchpoints across the customer journey—from social media interactions to after-sales service.
In India, the 2025 report covers 47 brands across 8 categories, with deep-dive CX insights into Banking, Fashion & Luxury, Automobile, Insurance, Financial Services, E-Retail, Hospitality, and Technology.
Top 10 brands are as follows:
David Shulman, Global CEO, Havas CX Network, said, “From a global perspective, the 2025 X Index confirms a universal truth: customer experience is no longer shaped by what brands say, but by what they consistently do. Across markets, we see trust being earned, or lost, through everyday interactions. Brands that align their promise with genuine customer needs reduce experience debt and build durable, long-term value.”
Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas India, South-East Asia & North Asia (Japan & South Korea), said, “India is moving at extraordinary speed, and consumer expectations are evolving just as fast. Indian consumers are increasingly demanding consistency and looking out for brands that simplify their experience. The X Index 2025 clearly shows that experience is now a strategic differentiator, one that directly impacts relevance, preference, and growth in this market.”
Manas Lahiri, Chief Growth Officer, Havas India added, “For brands looking to scale in India, growth today is inseparable from experience. What this report highlights is that sustainable growth comes from closing the CX gap, by creating seamless customer lifecycle value management across touchpoints, and proving value at every interaction. Brands that do this well will be the closest to the consumers and lead the next phase of growth.”
KEY INSIGHTS FROM THE X INDEX 2025
The X Index 2025 reveals a decisive evolution in how Indian consumers evaluate brands. While previous years saw brands focus heavily on personalisation, driving relevance through context, recognition, and tailored engagement, consumer expectations have now shifted to something more fundamental:
Don’t just understand me. Prove that you can serve me reliably.
For the first time, Havas has measured the gap between brand promise and lived experience, defined as the CX Debt.
What you deliver – What you promise = Customer satisfaction
India Feels the CX Gap More Sharply
In India, this divide is particularly pronounced. Rapid exposure to best-in-class experiences across categories has reset expectations, while uneven execution has led to the accumulation of Experience Debt. Small, repeated failures – delayed responses, unclear communication, broken journeys, add up quickly. Customers rarely complain; instead, they quietly redirect their loyalty.
This widening gap is driven by several factors:
Closing the Gap: The Proof Stack
To help brands reduce Experience Debt and rebuild trust, the X Index introduces the Proof Stack, three layers through which consumers validate experience:
Methodology
Havas CX used a evolved methodology for the 2025 edition of the X index. As part of this, consumers were invited to rate each brand nineteen items using a scale of 0 to 10, thereby quantifying its impact on their perceptions of the customer experience. These items range from the functional side (including a new item this year): “The brand offers a consistent quality experience whether I’m online or in-store” to the emotional: “The in-store/online experience is enjoyable and engaging”; “This brand often goes beyond my expectations” and from the personal: “This brand is centered on my needs as a customer”; “The brand respects my privacy and my personal data” to the collective: “As a customer of this brand, I feel like I am part of a community”; “The experience is accessible to all users.”
Read more: Havas CX India Appoints Amandeep Singh Kochar As EVP – Experience Strategy & Martech Head
