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In an era driven by data, the businesses that thrive are the ones who listen—really listen—to their customers. India’s economic and digital acceleration has made it a vibrant landscape for insights-driven decision-making. As an expert researcher, I've watched firsthand how a growing ecosystem of market research companies in India is enabling global brands, startups, and government bodies alike to tap into the pulse of the Indian consumer. Whether it’s decoding Gen Z shopping behavior, evaluating fintech product UX, or testing new regional ad campaigns, these 15 firms are at the cutting edge of market intelligence.
This blog post takes you through the top 15 market research companies in India, the services they excel in, and why they’re trusted by top global and domestic brands alike. If you're a business leader, product manager, or UX researcher eyeing the Indian market—or even scaling within it—this list can save you hours of searching and give you a strategic edge.
Specialties: Brand tracking, media research, retail audit
A legendary name in Indian MR, IMRB has helped shape the industry. Their historical data and urban + rural panels are invaluable for long-term brand studies. One of our FMCG projects benefited from their trend benchmarking going back 10+ years.
Specialties: Audience measurement, retail audits, consumer behavior
Nielsen’s unmatched coverage of India’s retail ecosystem makes them a go-to for CPG brands. Their data helps businesses understand both urban Kirana store behavior and e-commerce growth in real time.
Specialties: CX research, media effectiveness, segmentation
Independent and agile, Hansa’s strength lies in multi-city coverage and strong analytical models. They handled a telecom churn study for one of our clients with over 10,000 interviews in just two weeks.
Specialties: Emerging markets, qualitative, face-to-face fieldwork
Strong presence in Tier 2/3 cities and across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Ideal for brands wanting deep qualitative insights in diverse and often overlooked regions of India.
Specialties: Communication testing, innovation research, brand health
Their ‘NeedScope’ and ‘ConversionModel’ tools provide robust frameworks for brand growth and ad testing.
Specialties: Neuromarketing, UX, pharma research
Early adopters of eye-tracking, facial coding, and EEG studies. If you’re looking for deep UX or emotional response testing, these folks are trailblazers.
Specialties: Opinion polling, brand tracking, behavioral science
Strong political polling and U&A (usage & attitude) studies. They helped one of our fintech clients understand financial literacy across five states with surprising results that reshaped onboarding UX.
Specialties: Ad testing, brand equity, BrandZ rankings
Their pre/post ad test tools and global norms are trusted by marketing teams across sectors. Excellent for evaluating emotional resonance in communication.
Specialties: Market entry, strategic consulting, industrial research
A hybrid strategy + research firm. We’ve collaborated with them on a B2B go-to-market study—top-notch synthesis and actionable recommendations.
Specialties: IT trends, digital transformation, enterprise research
If you're in SaaS, hardware, or telecom, IDC’s tech spending insights and market maps are incredibly valuable for GTM and roadmap planning.
Specialties: CATI, CAWI, telephonic surveys
Combines BPO infrastructure with survey execution. Great option for cost-effective, large-sample phone surveys across regions and languages.
Specialties: Full-service MR, multi-country projects, analytics
Works extensively with UN bodies, global brands, and think tanks. Capable of managing everything from scripting to advanced analytics.
Specialties: Fieldwork, FMCG, real estate
Fast-growing and known for quick turnarounds with reliable quality. They saved a client project by recruiting and completing 1,200 face-to-face interviews across 8 cities in under a week.
Specialties: B2B, SaaS, concept testing
Based in Bangalore and great for tech firms. Helped one of our clients refine positioning for an industrial IoT product by uncovering user pain points in machinery maintenance.
Specialties: Mystery shopping, retail audits, CX scoring
They specialize in measuring real-world customer experience—from auto dealerships to hotel chains. If operations and service delivery matter, Bare is your pick.
Specialties: Hybrid quant-qual, field operations, ethnography
Expert in blending quant and qual data, and their field teams are extremely dependable. Great for ethnographic and context-rich UX studies.
Specialties: Online panels, mobile & healthcare research
A digital-first firm known for mobile surveys and healthcare insights. Useful for remote concept tests, especially in post-COVID hybrid models.
Specialties: Rural markets, GTM strategy, brand positioning
Focused on rural India and go-to-market challenges. Worked on a dairy product repositioning study with them—super nuanced cultural insight.
Specialties: Impact evaluation, development sector
Ideal for NGOs, foundations, and CSR departments. Their mixed-methods impact assessments are rigorous and grounded in social science.
Specialties: B2B, CATI, survey programming
Global reach with scalable CATI infrastructure. We used them for B2B interviews in India + UAE, and they managed translations and compliance seamlessly.
Every one of these firms brings something unique. So how do you pick the right one?
✅ Match your method to the need – If you need face-to-face, go with firms like RNB or Market Xcel. If it’s emotion tracking for creatives, go with Majestic MRSS or Kantar MB.
✅ Look for regional understanding – Especially in India, local nuance matters. Ask about their past experience with your target audience.
✅ Run a pilot before you scale – I always recommend starting with a single city, region, or user type to vet the agency’s process and delivery.
And if you're exploring AI-powered tools to speed up research, you don’t always need a large agency. Platforms like ours now allow you to run AI-moderated interviews, voice-based concept tests, and real-time synthesis across India’s diverse audience base—without sacrificing depth.
India isn’t just one market—it’s many. What works in Bangalore might fail in Bhopal. That’s why these top 20 market research companies matter. They bring the scale, experience, and cultural fluency needed to decode the Indian customer in all their complexity.
And as someone who's made research my craft, I’ll say this: a smart research partner doesn’t just give you data—they give you clarity. Choose wisely.
