People Research on India's Consumer Economy

What People Research on India's Consumer Economy does

People Research on India's Consumer Economy (PRICE) is an independent not-for-profit research organisation founded in 2012 by Dr. Rajesh Shukla, who previously led the Centre for Macro Consumer Research at NCAER for 18 years. Headquartered in New Delhi with operations co-located at the JM Financial Centre for Financial Research within IIM Udaipur, the organisation functions as both a "think tank" and a "fact tank" — generating primary, household-level data on India's consumer economy and citizen environment through its flagship ICE 360° longitudinal survey platform. Four survey waves (2014, 2016, 2021, 2023) have covered approximately 300,000 households across 25 Indian states and union territories, capturing 13 interconnected thematic domains — income, consumption, savings, borrowings, assets, health, education, digital access, financial inclusion, public goods, aspirations, mobility, and household dynamics — with methodology aligned to NSSO and Census of India standards. The team of roughly 7 core staff is augmented by an Academic and Technical Advisory Council (ATAC) of 12 external experts drawn from institutions such as IIM Ahmedabad, IGIDR, LSE, and ICAR.

PRICE monetises its research through four streams: sponsored commissioned research for government bodies, industry associations, and large corporates (survey riders, customised panels, data integration analytics); collaborative research grants underwritten by partners such as IIM Udaipur, JAMSETJI Tata Trust, World Gold Council, Tata Sons, and ICICI Bank; off-the-shelf publication sales (books, reports, working papers, policy briefs); and bespoke B2B consulting with data integration analytics. Pricing is project-based, negotiated on scope, sample size, and deliverables, typically structured as multi-year contracts.

The organisation serves three primary customer segments: government and policymakers (NITI Aayog, EAC-PM, RBI, SBI) requiring evidence for policy design and evaluation; corporate and business sector users (Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Amazon India, Flipkart, Google India, Apple India, Godrej, McKinsey, PwC, Bain, World Gold Council) seeking consumer segmentation and demand forecasting; and academic/research institutions (IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Udaipur, IGIDR, LSE) requiring longitudinal data for scholarly analysis. Distribution is direct-relationship B2B with thought-leadership marketing via expert op-eds in Mint, Economic Times, Business Standard, and similar outlets, supplemented by seminars, conferences, and a public Data Archive portal. Recent launches include the Financial Maturity Index (April 2026, jointly with IIM Udaipur) and the Gold Consumption Survey Wave 2.0 (2023, jointly with IIM Ahmedabad's India Gold Policy Centre).

Name

People Research on India's Consumer Economy

Legal name

People Research on India's Consumer Economy

Website

https://price360.in

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

People Research on India's Consumer Economy (PRICE) is an independent Indian not-for-profit research organisation founded in 2012 that runs the ICE 360° longitudinal household survey platform (four waves, ~300,000 households, 25 states) and sells commissioned research, collaborative grant-based studies, and publications to government, corporate, and academic clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Economic and Consumer Market Research Services

NAICS

Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (54191)

akta.pro primary industry

Survey, Panel & Fieldwork Services (BPAHALAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Fieldwork & Data Collection (Online Panels, CATI/CAPI, Fieldwork) (MPAAALAD)

Keywords

• Consumer market research
• Household survey data
• Economic policy research
• Longitudinal survey platforms
• Financial inclusion analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Udaipur

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Sponsored Research Projects: Commissioned research projects for government bodies, specific industry associations, and large corporates. Customized research through survey riders, customized surveys from base panels, and data mining.
2. Collaborative Research Grants: Collaboration with national and international research institutions where collaborators mobilize research grants with PRICE as the Indian partner.
3. Publication Sales: Primary data-based research reports, mass market publications, sectoral reports, business briefs, occasional papers, and periodicals available off-the-shelf.
4. B2B Consulting: Customized consulting and data integration analytics services for ad hoc projects primarily for government policy research or specific industry verticals.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

PRICE conducts large-scale pan-India household surveys and builds longitudinal data products on India's consumer economy and citizen environment. Its flagship ICE 360° Surveys platform covers income, consumption, savings, health, education, financial inclusion, digital access, and aspirations across 13 thematic areas in 25 Indian states. The organization also sells customized commissioned research, sector-specific studies, and off-the-shelf publications to government bodies, corporations, and academic institutions.

Product overview

PRICE operates as a not-for-profit think tank offering a portfolio of survey-based research products and services. The core product is the ICE 360° Surveys platform, a longitudinal data initiative conducting pan-India household surveys (Waves 1.0 through 4.0 in 2014, 2016, 2021, and 2023) covering approximately 300,000 households. Supplementary research products include the Financial Maturity Index (jointly with IIM Udaipur), Household Survey on Gold Consumption (with IGPC-IIM Ahmedabad), and Consumer Survey on Digital Channels. The service offerings encompass thin round surveys for specific sector studies, B2B consulting and data integration analytics, and collaborative research projects with academic institutions. Cross-cutting capabilities include the PRICE Data Archive for public data dissemination, policy briefs on economic issues, and working papers on income, consumption, and financial inclusion. The company also publishes comprehensive reports and books on India's economic landscape.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ICE 360° Surveys: Flagship longitudinal survey program capturing household data on income, consumption, savings, living conditions, access to public goods, health, education, and financial inclusion across Indian households. Waves conducted in 2014, 2016, 2021, and 2023.

Products and services

• ICE 360° Surveys PRICE's flagship longitudinal household survey platform generating integrated pan-India data on income, consumption, savings, financial inclusion, health, education, digital access, and aspirations across 13 thematic focus areas, designed for government policymakers, corporations, and academic researchers.
• Financial Maturity Index A multidimensional assessment framework evaluating the depth, quality, and sustainability of financial capability of citizens across regions and demographic groups, developed jointly with IIM Udaipur for policymakers and financial inclusion researchers.
• Household Survey on Gold Consumption A nationwide biannual household survey collecting data on the consumption, saving, investment, and usage behavior of gold and gold-related products among Indian households, conducted jointly with the India Gold Policy Centre (IGPC) at IIM Ahmedabad.
• Consumer Survey on Digital Channels and Consumer Emotions A pan-India survey collecting data on consumer experiences in accessing and using online retail platforms, capturing digital channel usage, consumer emotions, buying patterns, and preferences across geography and demographics.
• Thin Round Surveys Sub-sample surveys conducted on stratified geography (region, state, town class, consumer segments) for individual clients, industry verticals, or Government of India, focusing on specific research themes sponsored by clients.
• B2B Consulting and Data Integration Services Customized research projects undertaken for government (policy research), industry associations, or large corporates, including survey riders, customized surveys from base panels, and data mining with integrated analysis of time-series data.
• Collaborative Research Projects Research collaboration with national and international research institutions and scholars, where collaborators mobilize research grants with PRICE as the Indian partner, providing access to facilities, resources, and time-series data.
• PRICE Data Archive A public data portal providing metadata, survey methodology, sampling procedures, questionnaires, instructions, survey reports, classifications, code directories, and disseminated data files for academic researchers, students, and stakeholders.
• Policy Briefs Research publications analyzing key policy issues including household income surveys, youth demographics, income inequality, and agricultural livelihoods in India, authored by Dr. Rajesh Shukla and team members.

Quantifiable outcome

• ICE 360° Surveys have covered over 300,000 households across 25 states/UTs in four survey waves (2014, 2016, 2021, 2023)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers22 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIMU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partnership for joint research including the Financial Maturity Index study. PRICE operates from IIM Udaipur campus. Joint field training workshops conducted for survey methodology.
• Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic collaboration involving Dr. Basanta Kumar Pradhan, Director and VC at IGIDR, in research activities and ATAC advisory council.
• Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) - India Gold Policy CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint nationwide household survey on gold consumption (IGPC-PRICE Wave 1.0 and 2.0), covering 40,000 households across 25 states for five consecutive financial years.
• Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Dr. P.S. Pandey, Vice Chancellor, for agricultural and rural economy research.
• Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Dr. Ajeet Kumar Karnatak, Vice-Chancellor, for research on agricultural households and rural livelihoods.
• Mahindra University, HyderabadminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Dr. Nilanjan Bainik, Professor at School of Management, for research projects.
• Indian School of Development Management (ISDM) - Knowledge InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with The Knowledge Institute (KI) at ISDM for development research.
• London School of Economics (LSE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing collaborative research since 2002 on science culture indicators, public attitudes, and comparative analysis. Prof. Martin W. Bauer serves on the ATAC advisory council.
• University of Bielefeld, GermanyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of INDIA-EU Social Science Research Network collaboration, participating in MACAS project on Mapping of Cultural Authority of Science.
• JM Financial Centre for Financial Research, IIM UdaipurminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost institution for Financial Maturity Index field training workshop and research activities.
• McKinsey Global InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDr. Rajesh Shukla served as Technical Advisor on 'The Bird of Gold: The Rise of India's Consumer Market' study (2005-08).
• NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDr. Rajesh Shukla's prior affiliation (18 years). NCAER has been a data user and collaborator.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Centre for Policy Research (CPR): Larger, multi-disciplinary Indian policy think tank. Comparable in the broader think-tank / evidence-for-policy space, though CPR focuses more on qualitative policy research while PRICE is quantitative-survey-led.
• Ipsos India: Global research firm with significant public opinion and market research operations in India. Comparable as a survey-heavy multi-national competitor for government and corporate consumer research projects.
• Nielsen India: Global market research giant with deep Indian consumer panel operations. A broad incumbent whose retail and consumer measurement products overlap with PRICE's commercial market-sizing use cases, though at much larger scale.
• Kantar (India operations): World-leading consumer insights and market research firm serving many of PRICE's corporate clients (P&G, Google, etc.). Comparable as an established market research supplier competing for the same commissioned consumer economy budgets.

Regional players

• National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics India: Government statistical agency running India's largest household surveys on consumption and employment. PRICE explicitly benchmarks its methodology against NSSO, and both serve overlapping policy and academic data-user communities within India.

Direct peers

• National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER): India's most established economic think tank conducting household and consumer surveys (notably the India Human Development Survey). Directly comparable because PRICE's founder Dr. Rajesh Shukla spent 18 years at NCAER, and both organizations occupy the same niche of evidence-based economic research for government and corporate India.
• Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE): CMIE is an Indian economic data provider tracking incomes, consumption, savings, and corporate performance through proprietary databases. It is the closest direct competitor to PRICE for institutional clients seeking primary data on Indian household financial behavior.
• Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER): A Delhi-based policy think tank producing commissioned economic research for government and industry. Comparable as a non-academic think tank generating policy-relevant data and analysis for similar Indian government and corporate clients.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PRICE_360
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/price-360

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about People Research on India's Consumer Economy