Mumbai: The Market Research Society of India’s (MRSI) Golden Key Awards has rapidly become the foremost platform acknowledging and celebrating excellence in India’s Research and Insights industry since its establishment in 2019.
Upholding its tradition of honouring remarkable individuals whose contributions have significantly shaped the industry’s progression, MRSI is pleased to announce that it will confer Lifetime Achievement Awards to C. K. Sharma and Ashok Das at the upcoming Golden Key Awards 2024, scheduled to take place in Mumbai on Thursday, February 20, 2025. Furthermore, MRSI will bestow upon Dr Lalit S. Kanodia a Special Award in recognition of his Transformational Impact on the Industry. MRSI extends its profound gratitude to Ashok Das, C. K. Sharma, and Dr Lalit S. Kanodia for their unwavering support and pioneering guidance, which have played an instrumental role in elevating India’s market research and insights industry.
Over an illustrious career spanning more than four decades, Ashok Das has served as a critical architect of India’s market research landscape. He turned around Hansa Research as a formidable industry contender, while championing groundbreaking initiatives including the Indian Readership Survey (IRS), the Rural SEC, and INTAM, India’s first television meter service. In addition, his leadership at IMRB, MARG, and ORG-MARG extended the frontiers of market research into Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. A regular contributor at ESOMAR and MRSI forums, and a guest lecturer at esteemed institutions such as IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Bombay, Mr Das influenced both the practice and the pedagogical evolution of market research.
Similarly, C. K. Sharma – affectionately known as CK, is among the pioneers of the marketing research profession in India with over four decades of experience. As co-founder of Marketing & Business Associates (MBA) he led a team which developed expertise in cutting-edge analytical methods and applied them judiciously in helping clients solve problems. In the nineties, he played a major role in partnering with The Gallup Organization to introduce the newly born, and vastly important, concepts of customer and employee engagement in India. He later led Gallup’s research and consulting team in Asia-Pacific before switching to the role of Thought Leader and Strategic Consultant on critical assignments. His wide-ranging endeavours which highlight his influential status in the industry have included working with the Public Affairs Centre to develop Citizen Scorecards widely used in India and, through the World Bank, in some countries in Eastern Europe; the development of sophisticated customer experience frameworks for global banks, and building a conjoint measurement based system to stimulate farmer choices of herbicides in three Asian countries. A dedicated mentor, CK has shared his experience via teaching engagements at IIMA and MICA and, of course, with the vast alumni from MBA and Gallup, thus helping nurture new generations of industry leaders.
Dr Lalit S. Kanodia is widely regarded as a visionary and father-figure of the Indian Tech industry who extended his experience of the tech industry towards bringing transformational changes in the operating models of global research and insights organizations. He revolutionized the industry by spearheading the digitization of physical offline research as well as the integration of high-end data analytics in order to improve the quality and turnaround time of research insights. A distinguished alumnus of MIT (Massachusetts) and IIT Mumbai, Dr Kanodia was instrumental in setting up India’s pioneering IT enterprise, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in 1967. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Datamatics Group of Companies. His dedication to society and academia is equally notable. He has taught courses encompassing Business Applications of Statistics at leading MBA institutes globally such as MIT, the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, while also serving in leading capacities at the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Reflecting on the honours, Nitin Kamat, President at Market Research Society of India remarked, “We are profoundly grateful to Mr Ashok Das, Mr C. K. Sharma, and Dr Lalit S. Kanodia for their enduring support and visionary leadership. Their extraordinary contributions have shaped the very fabric of our industry, and their steadfast mentorship continues to guide professionals across the sector. We are privileged to recognize their outstanding achievements at the MRSI Golden Key Awards 2024.”
The Golden Key Awards 2024 will convene prominent thought leaders, seasoned veterans, and dynamic emerging talent from across the nation to celebrate excellence in market research and insights. This prestigious event honours the accomplishments of the fraternity and underscores MRSI’s unwavering commitment to advancing innovation and thought-leadership within the industry.