Brands
India’s research and insights industry hits Rs 29,008 crore in FY25
MUMBAI: India’s research and insights industry expanded to Rs 29,008 crore in FY2025, growing 10.9 per cent year-on-year, as analytics-led services and rising international demand pushed the sector into a more mature, diversified phase.
According to the Market Research Society of India (MSRI), the industry rose from Rs 26,300 crore in FY2024 and is expected to reach about Rs 32,500 crore in FY2026, implying growth of 10–12 per cent despite global economic uncertainty.
Analytics remained the largest and fastest-growing segment, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the market. The segment grew 14 per cent in FY2025, driven largely by overseas clients, who contributed more than 90 per cent of demand. Increased use of predictive modelling, customer lifetime value analysis and econometrics underpinned the expansion, with agentic AI enabling real-time, autonomous insights.
Custom market research grew 8 per cent, buoyed by demand for advanced consumer experience tools such as facial coding, eye tracking and emotional response measurement. Syndicated research rose 6 per cent, aided by a modest rebound in manufacturing-led demand and greater outsourcing to India-based captive research centres, though media measurement continues to face disruption as audiences shift to digital and streaming platforms.
TAM Media Research chief growth and partnerships officer and MSRI president Nitin Kamat, said growth is now being driven by value rather than volume, with firms moving from traditional data delivery to integrated, AI-enabled insight systems.
MRSI director general Mitali Chowhan, said steady double-digit growth reflects rising trust in data-led decision-making across sectors, even amid global volatility.
Looking ahead, mrsi expects continued momentum in FY2026, led by international mandates, deeper adoption of advanced analytics, and growing domestic demand for hyperlocal insights across both consumer and B2B sectors.
Brands
Dunkin’ Donuts to exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks ends 15-year franchise deal
The quick service restaurant giant is ending a 15-year franchise partnership with the American doughnut chain, even as it renews its Domino’s agreement for another 15 years
NOIDA: Dunkin’ is done in India. Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, the country’s leading quick service restaurant operator, has decided not to renew its franchise agreement with the American coffee and doughnut chain, and will wind down its Indian stores in a phased manner before December 31, 2026, bringing a 15-year partnership to a quiet, loss-laden close.
The decision, approved by JFL’s board on March 30, 2026, ends a relationship that began with a Multiple Unit Development Franchise Agreement signed on February 24, 2011. JFL will now evaluate and undertake what it described in a regulatory filing as the “rationalisation and/or cessation of certain operations and/or sale, transfer or disposal of assets and/or assignment or transfer of franchise rights,” all in consultation with Dunkin’s brand owners and strictly within the terms of the original agreement.
The numbers tell the story bluntly. In the financial year 2024-25, Dunkin’ India posted a revenue of Rs 37 crore against a loss of Rs 19 crore — a haemorrhage that was always going to test the patience of a parent company recording revenues of Rs 6,104 crore and a profit of Rs 194 crore in the same period. Doughnuts, it turns out, were never going to move the needle.
The contrast with JFL’s handling of its other marquee franchise could hardly be sharper. Even as it walks away from Dunkin’, the company has just doubled down on Domino’s, signing a fresh Master Franchise Agreement on March 31, 2026, granting it exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino’s Pizza stores in India for 15 years, with an option to renew for a further 10.
JFL, incorporated in 1995 and promoted by the Bharatia family, operates a network of more than 3,500 stores across six markets — India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Its portfolio includes Domino’s and Popeyes on the global side, and two home-grown brands: Hong’s Kitchen and COFFY, a café brand in Turkey.
For Dunkin’, India was always a stretch. The brand never quite cracked the cultural code in a market where filter coffee and chai command fierce loyalty and where the doughnut remains, at best, an occasional indulgence rather than a daily habit. Fifteen years, mounting losses and a parent with better things to spend its capital on was always going to be a difficult equation to solve.
The doughnut has had its last day. The pizza, however, is staying.
