Kantar Insights and Bharti Airtel lead winners at MRSI 33rd Annual Seminar

New Delhi: Kantar Insights and Bharti Airtel were named winners at the 33rd Annual Market Research Seminar of the Market Research Society of India (MRSI) for their research paper titled Reconstructing Bharat: A Scientific Approach to Estimating India's Population Demographics at a District Level. 

Runner-up honours went to Knowledge Excel for Guardians of the Survey: Fighting Fraud to Protect Research Integrity and Data Quality Benchmarking, and to Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Third Eye Integrated Services for Streaming the Paradox, Gen Z and the Intergenerational Remix.

The seminar, held under the theme ‘The Power of And’, featured 22 shortlisted papers from more than 100 submissions.

The event opened with a keynote address by Saurabh Garg, Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. He noted the role of data in shaping India’s development, underlining the government’s focus on data-driven decision-making for a $30 trillion economy and higher per capita income over the next 25 years. 

He highlighted the importance of collaboration with private enterprises, academia, and international practices, citing innovations in AI, machine learning, geospatial, and alternative data to support initiatives such as district-level population estimates and improved data portals.

A knowledge panel included Dr. Ashish Bajaj, Group Chief Marketing Officer, Narayana Health; K. Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, South Asia, Worldpanel by Numerator; and Vishnu Shankar, Chief Cluster Officer, &TV FTA and Music, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Other speakers included Aradhana Lal, Senior Vice President, Sustainability and ESG, Lemon Tree Hotels; Karthik Nagarajan, CEO, Hogarth India; and Vijay Raj, Head, Global CMI. The panel discussed how brands can operate effectively across India’s diverse cultural, social, and economic landscape.

An additional discussion, titled Joys and Dilemmas of Insight in the Age of Technology, was moderated by Chandan Mukherji, Director and Executive Vice President, Strategy, Marketing and  Communication, Nestlé India, and featured Dixit Chanana, Managing Director, Toluna India; Oslando Desouza, Vice President, Consumer Insight, HUL; Sharmila Das, Chairwoman, Purple Audacity; Siddhartha Nangia, Co-Founder, Smytten; Subhranshu Rout, Head, Consumer Insights & Intelligence, Bharti Airtel; and Soumya Mohanty, Managing Director, Chief Client & Solution Officer, Kantar.

Nitin Kamat, Chief Growth & Partnerships Officer, TAM Media Research and President of MRSI, said, “The Seminar has always been the beacon of insight leadership in India. This year, with the theme ‘The Power of And,’ we are proud to see the industry embracing integration, between technology and creativity, data and human stories, clients and agencies, to shape the future of market research.”

Seminar Committee Chairperson Rituparna Dasgupta, Executive Vice President, Network Research & Consumer Insights, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, added, “This year’s Seminar has been an incredible platform for dialogue, debate, and discovery. What stood out this year was the diversity of ideas, from breakthrough academic research to real-world brand case studies. It reflects the growing maturity and ambition of the Indian insights industry.”

Roosevelt Dsouza, APAC Head of Customer Success at NielsenIQ India and Seminar Committee Co-chair, said, “The seminar showcased how far the industry has come in embracing innovation and collaboration. The richness of discussions and the active participation from across sectors reinforced MRSI’s role as the hub for advancing research excellence in India.”

MRSI continues to drive advocacy through initiatives and dialogue with various government ministries. The organisation also implements a Self-Governance Framework for Ethical Conduct across the market research industry, set by the Professional Standards Committee, to uphold professional standards.

The 33rd Annual Market Research Seminar was supported by Lead Partner SmyttenPulse AI, Associate Partners Toluna and Zee Entertainment Enterprises, and Premium Session Partners Kantar, Nestlé, ITC, and Hindustan Unilever.