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In 2026, India is no longer a “growth market” on the horizon. It is the market. Rapid digital adoption, regional diversity, platform-native consumers, and exploding category competition mean that intuition and surface-level data simply do not scale.
The organisations winning in India are the ones that listen deeply and continuously to customers across cities, languages, income levels, and digital maturity. Over the past decade working across startups, enterprises, and public-sector projects, I’ve seen one consistent truth: the right research partner can dramatically reduce risk and accelerate confident decision-making.
This updated guide covers the top 20 market research companies in India for 2026. These firms are trusted by global brands, Indian unicorns, NGOs, and government bodies to decode Indian consumer behaviour with rigor and cultural fluency.
Before diving into agencies, it’s important to call out a major shift in 2026: AI-powered market research.
Traditional research firms remain essential for deep, bespoke studies. But AI tools are now filling a critical gap between large projects by enabling faster, always-on learning.
UserCall enables teams to run AI-moderated voice interviews across India and automatically synthesize responses into themes, sentiment, and insight summaries.
Indian teams use UserCall to:
In practice, many teams now combine traditional Indian research firms for strategic depth with AI tools like UserCall for speed and continuity.
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.
When selecting a firm, anchor on the decision you need to make:
Many teams now run hybrid research stacks:
India’s diversity is its challenge and its opportunity. What resonates in Bengaluru may fail in Bhopal. The firms on this list succeed because they respect that complexity.
Choose a partner that brings not just data, but cultural understanding, methodological rigor, and speed. Because in India, insight isn’t just an advantage. It’s survival.
