New Delhi: Indian brands are facing a growing and largely invisible challenge—CX Debt, the cumulative impact of small but repeated customer experience failures that steadily erode trust and loyalty. According to the 7th edition of the X Index India 2025 by Havas CX, consumers are no longer persuaded by what brands say; they are judging brands by what they consistently deliver.
The study evaluates 47 Indian brands across eight categories as part of a global survey of 59,000 consumers, and for the first time measures the gap between brand promise and lived experience. The findings point to a widening experience gap in India, where trust in advertising outpaces satisfaction with real-world delivery.
From Personalisation to Proof
The 2025 report marks a decisive shift in consumer expectations. While earlier CX strategies focused heavily on personalisation and recognition, Indian consumers today are prioritising reliability, speed, clarity and consistency.
David Shulman, Global CEO, Havas CX Network, said the trend is visible across markets. “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.”
This evolution reflects what the report describes as a maturation in judgement. Consumers are no longer impressed by intent or creative storytelling alone; they expect proof through dependable operations.
The Rise of CX Debt in India
Havas CX introduces CX Debt (Experience Debt) as the accumulated cost of micro-failures such as delayed deliveries, broken digital flows, unclear communication or inconsistent service. While brands may overlook these moments individually, consumers register them collectively—and quietly withdraw loyalty.
India experiences this gap more sharply due to rapid digital exposure and cross-category comparison. Consumers no longer benchmark brands within their category; instead, the best experience anywhere becomes the expectation everywhere.
Rana Barua, Group CEO, Havas India, South-East Asia & North Asia (Japan & South Korea), noted, “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.”
Where the Experience Gap Is Widest
The report’s promise-versus-delivery analysis reveals that the CX gap exists across all categories, but is most pronounced in Fashion & Luxury, Banking, Insurance and Financial Services. These sectors combine high emotional or financial stakes with frequent or stressful interactions, making even small inconsistencies highly visible.
In contrast, Automotive, Hospitality and Technology emerge as the strongest-performing categories, largely due to tighter control over end-to-end execution and fewer deviations between expectation and delivery.
India’s CX Leaders
The X Index 2025 rankings place Tata Motors at the top for customer experience performance, followed by Tata CLiQ Luxury, OnePlus, Taj Hotels and Mahindra. Digital-first brands such as Zerodha and Apple also feature among the top performers, underscoring the value of coherent, frictionless journeys.
Notably, Banking features only once in the Top 10, highlighting how difficult it remains for the category to manage CX Debt consistently at scale.
Functional First, Emotion as a Multiplier
The report also reweights the four pillars of customer experience in India, with functional reliability now carrying the highest importance. Emotion continues to matter deeply, but only when systems work as expected. When functional promises fail, emotional storytelling loses credibility; when they hold, emotion amplifies trust.
Closing the CX Gap
To help brands reduce CX Debt, Havas CX outlines a “proof stack” built on seamless experiences across touchpoints, emotion delivered through operations rather than campaigns, and performance that holds up under real-world conditions.
Manas Lahiri, Chief Growth Officer, Havas India, said, “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.”
The Business Imperative
The central warning of X Index India 2025 is unambiguous: CX Debt does not announce itself. Customers rarely complain; they simply disengage. In a market as competitive and fast-moving as India, closing the promise–delivery gap is no longer a CX ambition—it is a strategic necessity and an increasingly decisive source of competitive advantage.
