India’s Research Firms See Shifting Demand as 5G Positioning Gains Ground

Introduction

Two disclosures from the second half of 2026 show where India's research industry is heading. Crisil Limited reported Research, Analytics and Solutions segment revenue of Rs 770.85 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, and NielsenIQ placed a new Managing Director in charge of India effective September 30, 2026. Decision-makers choosing a research partner therefore need dated evidence on each firm rather than a list of familiar brand names.

The same buyers are now commissioning work on technology categories that barely existed as commercial segments a few years ago. According to Next Move Strategy Consulting's 5G Position Sensing Market report, the global 5G position sensing market was valued at USD 1.32 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 3.81 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 19.3% from 2025 to 2030. This article profiles the research firms active in India using their 2026 disclosures, then uses 5G positioning as a test of what it takes to size an emerging category.

For More Information: Download FREE Sample on 5G Position Sensing Market Report

Top Market Research Companies in India: What the 2026 Evidence Shows

Selection Basis and Global Context

The firms below were selected on disclosures dated within the past six months: audited or unaudited financial results, named leadership appointments, published survey programmes with stated fieldwork periods, and third-party recognitions. Paid placements and self-declared rankings were not used.

Esomar, the global association for market, opinion and social research, framed the backdrop in its October 14, 2026 update. Its Global Market Research 2026 report shows the global insights industry grew 6.3% in 2025 to almost US$165 billion, with data drawn from more than 110 countries and regions. On the same date Esomar announced that ISO 20252:2026, the fourth edition of the international standard for market, opinion and social research, insights and data analytics, has been published.

Crisil Limited: Analytics Revenue Is the Growth Engine

Crisil Limited, headquartered in India and majority owned by S&P Global, published its unaudited results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026 on July 21, 2026. Consolidated income from operations reached Rs 1,075.4 crore, compared with Rs 843.0 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2025. The Research, Analytics and Solutions segment contributed Rs 770.85 crore, a year-on-year increase of 30.1%, while the Ratings segment contributed Rs 305.12 crore.

The segment table in the same filing shows the research business expanding in consecutive periods: Rs 592.29 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2025, Rs 735.63 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2026 and Rs 770.85 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2026. The filing also notes that the PriceMetrix acquisition is reflected in the Q2 2026 results of Crisil Coalition Greenwich, so part of the growth reflects acquired revenue.

Research, Analytics and Solutions segment revenue at Crisil Limited rose from Rs 592.29 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2025 to Rs 735.63 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2026 and Rs 770.85 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2026. The company's release puts the year-on-year growth for the latest quarter at 30.1%. All three values come from the same segment table in the July 2026 filing.

“Our Q2 2026 performance reflects continued growth momentum and disciplined execution of our strategic priorities,” said Amish Mehta, Managing Director and CEO of Crisil Limited, in the company's results release dated July 21, 2026. For buyers, the practical reading is that Crisil Limited is the one profiled firm whose research revenue can be verified line by line from a regulatory filing.

Kantar: Creative Testing at Scale

Kantar unveiled the winners of its Creative Effectiveness Awards India 2026 in June 2026. The programme draws on Kantar's testing of more than 13,000 creatives globally in 2025, including more than 1,500 in India, and the accompanying report evaluates more than 250 ads across categories, audiences, regions and media platforms. The theme, ROOTED in India, reflects Kantar's finding that effective advertising combines storytelling, cultural relevance and brand integration.

Kantar also released new global insights on measuring creator effectiveness at scale. The published sample sizes make Kantar the most transparent profiled firm on advertising pre-testing volume, although the release does not disclose revenue or client counts.

NielsenIQ: A Leadership Reset for Retail and Consumer Intelligence

NielsenIQ appointed Puneet Sharma as Managing Director, India, effective September 30, 2026, with the announcement reported by exchange4media on October 8, 2026. Sharma previously served as Sales Director at Kenvue and will lead commercial strategy in the region.

“As consumer behavior continues to evolve and clients increasingly seek integrated intelligence across retail, e-commerce, digital, and consumer insights, India represents a significant opportunity for growth and innovation,” said Daniel Chorbadjian, Regional President, EEMEA and India, at NielsenIQ, in the October 2026 announcement.

Ipsos India: Sentiment Tracking Across 30 Markets

Ipsos India publishes the local cut of the Ipsos What Worries the World programme. The May 2026 edition, fielded from April 24 to May 8, 2026 across 30 markets, found 73% of urban Indians positive about the country's direction and 78% upbeat about the economy. The July 2026 edition was fielded from June 19 to July 3, 2026, with 500 adults interviewed in India.

“India's position among the world's most optimistic countries is rooted in a broad sense of stability and resilience,” said Suresh Ramalingam, CEO of Ipsos India, in the August 2026 release covering the July survey.

Hansa Research and TRA Research: Consumer Intent Indicators

Hansa Research released its Festive Season 2026 analysis ahead of the festive period. It found that 95% of consumers expect higher festive spending, 67% plan to increase outlay by 25% or more and only 2% do not expect to raise spending. “The 2026 festive season reflects a consumer who is optimistic about spending, but increasingly intentional about where, how and why they spend,” said Praveen Nijhara, CEO of Hansa Research, in the 2026 release.

TRA Research released its August 2026 India Buying Intent reading on September 4, 2026. The index fell to 98.80, below its three-month trend of 99.27, and was classified as Decelerating. Conscious evaluation accounted for 62.61% of buying decisions in August, compared with 62.67% in July, and instinct accounted for 37.39%. Hyundai recorded the largest positive movement, gaining 298.7 points month-on-month. “August shows consumers are indecisive in their buying readiness,” said N. Chandramouli, CEO of TRA Research, in the September 4, 2026 release.

Frost & Sullivan: Recognition Programmes as a Market Signal

Frost & Sullivan named Yotta Data Services its 2026 Indian Company of the Year in the AI infrastructure industry on June 23, 2026. “Yotta has emerged as a cornerstone of India's sovereign AI ecosystem by closing critical infrastructure gaps with purpose-built, AI-ready data centers that deliver security, performance, and regulatory alignment at scale,” said Harsh Singh, Associate at Frost & Sullivan, in the June 23, 2026 release. Frost & Sullivan states that the Company of the Year Recognition goes to a company showing measurable improvements in competitive positioning, customer impact and market leadership.

NMSC Strategic Perspective: What the 5G Position Sensing Market Teaches Research Buyers

NextMSC primary research and analysis shows why a niche category tests a research firm's depth. The 5G position sensing market is segmented by technology (5G NR, 5G Advanced, GNSS hybrid, UWB, BLE, Wi-Fi RTT, RFID and sensor fusion), by commercial offering (network positioning, device positioning, location platforms, RTLS systems and services), by use case, by end user and by region. NextMSC primary research and analysis finds Asia Pacific dominating market share, and the NextMSC report covers 28 countries.

NextMSC primary research and analysis identifies three demand drivers: growing IoT adoption in healthcare, manufacturing and logistics, rising adoption of autonomous vehicles that need precise real-time positioning, and government and telecom investment in 5G connectivity. Restraints include concerns about radio frequency radiation and human health, together with privacy and data security risks. Opportunities lie in positioning technologies such as ultrawideband and optical sensing, and in blockchain integration for location-data precision.

The implication for research buyers is specific. A firm that sizes this category must cross-tabulate technologies against end users and regions, then reconcile them with operator capital spending, so tender documents should ask each bidder how many segment cross-tabs it can defend.

Section Summary:

Seven research firms report dated 2026 evidence, and each is strongest in a distinct kind of decision support.

• Crisil Limited offers the only research revenue line verifiable from a filing: Rs 770.85 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2026, up 30.1% year-on-year.

• Kantar and NielsenIQ cover advertising effectiveness and retail intelligence respectively, with Kantar disclosing testing volumes and NielsenIQ resetting its India leadership.

• Ipsos India, Hansa Research and TRA Research supply sentiment and intent indicators whose samples and fieldwork windows are stated.

• Emerging categories such as the 5G position sensing market require segment-level depth, so buyers should test methodology before awarding mandates.

Industry Impact Analysis

India's 5G Base Sets the Demand Floor for Positioning Research

The Ericsson Mobility Report of June 2026, released on June 16, 2026, states that India's 5G subscriptions reached 430 million at the end of 2025, equal to 35% of total mobile subscriptions, and that more than 1.1 billion 5G subscriptions are expected by the end of 2031, reaching 81% subscription penetration. Globally, 162 million new 5G subscriptions were added in the first quarter of 2026, lifting the total past three billion to 3.1 billion.

“India's rapidly growing 5G adoption based on enhanced mobile broadband and 5G FWA is transforming consumer experiences,” said Nitin Bansal, Managing Director of Ericsson India, in the Ericsson Mobility Report release of June 16, 2026. At the India Mobile Congress on October 8, 2026, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stated that 5G covers 86% of the population and 99.9% of districts and that the government targets one billion 5G users by 2030, according to Swarajya's report of the same day.

5G Fixed Wireless Access: The Urban-Rural Split in Regulator Data

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) reported in Press Release No. 104/2026 of July 28, 2026 that 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) subscribers rose from 12.73 million at the end of May 2026 to 12.94 million at the end of June 2026. At the end of June, urban areas accounted for 6.44 million subscribers (49.80%) and rural areas for 6.49 million (50.20%), against 1,300.25 million total wireless subscribers.

At the end of June 2026, urban areas held 49.80% of India's 12.94 million 5G fixed wireless access subscribers and rural areas held 50.20%. Both shares are taken from TRAI Press Release No. 104/2026 of July 28, 2026.

A rural share above 50% matters for positioning research because fixed wireless installations are anchored to addresses, which makes location accuracy a service-quality issue at the household level and not only a mobility feature. Buyers of research should therefore ask whether any dataset separates urban and rural deployments.

Positioning Moves Into the Network: Ericsson, MediaTek and 3GPP

On August 18, 2026, the IEEE ComSoc Technology Blog, written by Alan Weissberger, reported that Ericsson and MediaTek completed an end-to-end trial of high-precision outdoor positioning over a commercial 5G network using GNSS RTK assistance. The trial delivered stable outdoor accuracy below 30 cm using the handset's built-in antenna, with no proprietary positioning infrastructure or dedicated external GNSS hardware. It validated unicast delivery through LPP messages over SUPL and broadcast delivery through Positioning System Information Blocks, and it relied on capabilities specified in 3GPP Release 16.

“This is a milestone for the 5G ecosystem,” said Johan Hultell, Head of Product RAN Software at Ericsson, as quoted in the August 18, 2026 IEEE ComSoc Technology Blog article. Broadcast assistance can be encrypted, with decryption material delivered to authorized subscribers through the 5G Core.

The standards track is moving in parallel. The IEEE ComSoc Technology Blog reported on September 22, 2026 that 3GPP Plenary #113, held September 15-17, 2026 in Madrid, reached the 100% completion target for Release 20 Stage 2 system architecture, that SA2 finalized early system-level flows for integrated sensing and communications, and that the functional freeze for Release 21 6G work is targeted for December 2028.

What This Means for Buyers of Research in India

In the 2026 disclosures reviewed for this article, none of the profiled research firms published a dataset specific to 5G positioning, which is why the NextMSC 5G Position Sensing Market report fills a gap that consumer-facing trackers cannot. The firms profiled above remain the right choice for the questions they are built to answer, from analytics to creative effectiveness, retail measurement and consumer sentiment.

Section Summary:

Regulator and standards data show 5G positioning is moving from trial to a network service, and the evidence base for it is still thin.

• Ericsson's June 2026 report places India's 5G subscriptions at 430 million at the end of 2025 and above 1.1 billion by 2031.

• TRAI's July 28, 2026 release shows 5G FWA at 12.94 million subscribers, with rural areas holding 50.20%.

• Ericsson and MediaTek demonstrated sub-30 cm outdoor accuracy on a commercial 5G network, built on 3GPP Release 16 capabilities.

• Research buyers should match each decision to a firm whose published assets fit it.

Pros and Cons of Recent Market Developments

Key Data & Statistics

Dated 2026 Disclosures From Research Firms Active in India

5G Connectivity and Industry Reference Points

Future Outlook & Forecast

The Road to USD 3.81 Billion in the 5G Position Sensing Market

According to NextMSC primary research and analysis, the global 5G position sensing market is projected to reach USD 3.81 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 19.3% from 2025 to 2030 from a base of USD 1.32 billion in 2024. Three forces underpin this trajectory in India.

1. Subscriber scale: Ericsson's June 2026 forecast of more than 1.1 billion Indian 5G subscriptions by the end of 2031 and the government's one-billion-user target for 2030 widen the base of devices able to use network positioning. Each added subscriber raises the number of handsets that can receive RTK-class assistance data without new hardware.

2. Standards maturity: The Ericsson and MediaTek trial relied on 3GPP Release 16 capabilities, while Release 20 Stage 2 architecture work reached 100% completion in September 2026. Integrated sensing and communications flows are being drafted for Release 21, which carries a December 2028 functional freeze target for 6G work.

3. Enterprise indoor demand: The NextMSC report names manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, retail, smart buildings and transportation as end-user segments, and UWB, BLE and Wi-Fi RTT as competing indoor technologies. The restraint is equally clear, because privacy and data security risks and radio frequency health concerns can slow deployment in workplaces.

Section Summary:

NextMSC projects the 5G position sensing market to reach USD 3.81 billion by 2030 at a 19.3% CAGR, while research demand shifts toward analytics.

• India's 5G subscriber base, forecast above 1.1 billion by 2031, enlarges the device pool for network positioning.

• Release 20 and Release 21 standards work extends positioning into integrated sensing and communications.

• Privacy, data security and radio frequency health concerns remain the principal restraints named by NextMSC.

• Research buyers should split budgets by decision type and verify segment methodology.

Next Steps for Stakeholders

For Corporate Research and Strategy Heads

Tender by decision type. Separate budgets for advertising pre-testing, retail measurement, sentiment tracking and technology-market sizing, then shortlist from the firms whose 2026 disclosures match each need. Kantar's testing volumes, NielsenIQ's retail intelligence and Crisil Limited's analytics revenue are measurable starting points.

For Telecom, Enterprise and Technology Buyers

Plan pilots around existing 5G coverage. With 5G covering 86% of the population according to the October 8, 2026 statement of Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, pilots of network positioning for logistics, factories and campuses can begin without waiting for new coverage.

For Investors

Track analytics-led revenue. Crisil Limited's Rs 770.85 crore research segment revenue, up 30.1% year-on-year, is the clearest listed-company signal of demand for analytics in India.

Conclusion

India's research industry is differentiating by decision type, and the 2026 evidence shows it clearly: Crisil Limited growing analytics revenue by 30.1% year-on-year, Kantar testing creatives at global scale, NielsenIQ resetting its India leadership, and Ipsos India, Hansa Research and TRA Research publishing sentiment and intent signals with stated samples and dates. Buyers who match each decision to the firm whose published assets fit it will make better use of research budgets.

According to NextMSC primary research and analysis, the 5G position sensing market is projected to reach USD 3.81 billion by 2030 at a 19.3% CAGR, and the Ericsson and MediaTek trial, TRAI's subscriber data and the 3GPP roadmap all point to positioning becoming a network service. Teams that need to size categories like this one should insist on segment-level methodology, because that, more than brand name, separates a usable forecast from a headline.