Evidence strong enough to put in front of a regulator, a company or a court of public opinion
Bharat Survey is a survey agency for consumer protection and advocacy groups, consumer organisations, and public-interest research teams. When a finding will be contested by the businesses it concerns, the method has to be clean. We run shop-level price and labelling checks, service quality audits and household consumer surveys, with photos, GPS and time on every record, and we document methods so they can be defended.
- Shelf price, MRP and label checks with photos
- Service quality and grievance audits
- Consumer awareness and experience surveys
- Methods notes written for scrutiny
- In areaInside approx. boundary
- Accuracy±12 m
- Time09:42 · fresh fix
- Mock GPSNot detected
- Interview length11 min
A company answering a critical report rarely disputes the finding directly. It questions the sample, the timing, or whether visits really happened.
So we build studies to close those doors in advance. Outlets or respondents are selected by rules written down before fieldwork. Every shop visit carries location, time and a photo of the product or price display. Enumerators record what they see without commentary. A methods note explains the sample, what was excluded and why, and what the data cannot show.
The framework consumer groups work within
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 set up the Central Consumer Protection Authority, which issues guidelines on matters such as misleading advertisements and dark patterns. Field evidence on how products are priced, labelled and sold helps groups raise issues with the authority, with companies or in public, backed by records rather than anecdotes.
We stay neutral
- We collect and document evidence
- We do not write advocacy positions
- We do not file complaints for you
- Companies are not warned before visits
- Findings are not altered for any party
Consumer issues look different in a metro supermarket and a district-town general store. Running the same checklist across states, town classes and store types shows whether a problem is isolated or systematic.
Field teams deployed for each study use one offline form, so a price check in a hill town is recorded exactly like one in a city mall.
- Town-class and store-type quotas
- Same checklist and photo rules everywhere
- Outlet-level records you can inspect
Retail price and label checks
- Photo of pack and price display
- Bill retained for purchases
- Outlet GPS and time
Service quality and grievance audits
- Scenario scripts reviewed with you
- Call and visit logs
- Outcome codes per visit
Consumer experience surveys
- Neutral wording checked
- Urban and rural quotas
- Hindi and regional tools
Survey app for Consumer Protection and Advocacy Groups
- Photo required before submit
- Volunteer role access
- Independent back-check option
Our position
| Level | What it includes | Holds up against |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Structured form, GPS and time | Claims that visits were invented |
| Documented | Plus photos of products, prices or premises | Claims that observations were wrong |
| Purchase-backed | Plus bills and retained packs | Claims about specific price or label |
| Back-checked | Plus independent revisit of a sample | Claims about enumerator bias |
Not the right fit if
- Laboratory testing of products for quality or safety
- Legal advice or filing consumer complaints
- Studies designed to target a company regardless of evidence
- Secret recording of staff where it would be unlawful
A good fit if
- Multi-state price and label checks
- Service audits with documented scenarios
- Consumer surveys with neutral wording
- Evidence packs with photos and methods
Straight answers to the questions people ask most about this topic.
Can our findings name specific brands or outlets?
That is your decision as the publisher. We record outlet and product details as the design requires and provide the evidence behind each record. We recommend legal review before naming businesses, and our methods note states exactly what each record shows.
Do enumerators buy products during price checks?
Only where the design needs purchase evidence, such as proving an overcharge. Purchases are budgeted in advance, bills are retained, and packs can be stored for your review. Other checks rely on observation and photos.
Can volunteers from our network collect data?
Yes. Volunteers can use the offline app with required photo and GPS fields, and our team can back-check a sample of their records so the final dataset carries an independent quality check.
How long does a multi-state price check take?
It depends on the number of towns, outlets and products, and whether purchases are needed. We share a dated field plan with the proposal, and daily progress is visible once fieldwork starts.
Tell us the issue, the places and the level of evidence you need. We will reply with a design and methods outline.