Skip to main content
Bharat Surveyभारत सर्वे
ज़िला कार्यालय में बड़ी स्क्रीन पर ब्लॉक-वार प्रगति देखते अधिकारी
Services · Household data collection

From listing every house in a block to interviewing a random sample of them

Bharat Survey is a household survey agency in India for government departments, research institutes, development programmes and companies that need data from homes, not from phones or websites. We list dwellings and households, draw samples from that listing, interview selected households on an offline Android app in their language, and back-check a share before any record is accepted. Every record carries its location, time and interviewer.

Discuss a household survey Third party evaluation
  • House listing and mapping before sampling
  • Random household selection from the listing
  • Offline, Hindi-first and regional-language forms
  • Back-checks and GPS evidence on every record
Household survey agency India
District household survey · Round 1Updated 12s ago · sample
3,000
Target homes
2,184
Visits
1,962
Enumerated
1,871
Verified
Daily verified recordsLast 12 days
Quality
Accepted1871
In review64
Outside area19
Weak signal8
Coverage · by block
Block A62%
Block B48%
Block C31%
Block D24%
Survey 3/6 · AmenitiesOffline
How is drinking water in your area?
  • Comes regularly
  • Comes sometimes
  • Rarely / never
  • Don't know
✓ Section saved on phone · autosave
BackNext
House listingHousehold rosterTwo-stage samplesRural and urban framesMulti-state fieldworkLGD geography codesBack-checksClean data and codebook
Start with the frame

A household sample is only as good as the list it was drawn from. In most of India, no up-to-date list of households exists for the villages or wards you need, so the first job is to make one.

In a listing operation, enumerators walk every lane of a selected village or urban block and record every structure, every dwelling within it and every household within each dwelling, with the head's name recorded only where the study needs re-contact and consent is taken. Each entry gets a GPS point and a photo of the structure where appropriate. The listing becomes the sampling frame for that area.

We then select households at random from the listing using a method stated in advance, such as systematic sampling after sorting by hamlet. Interviewers receive the selected household IDs and cannot substitute a neighbour without a recorded reason and supervisor approval.

Survey agency for census and demographic data collection

Demographic modules cover household roster, age, sex, relationship, education, occupation, disability, migration, housing condition and assets. We use definitions that match official concepts where the client needs comparability, and we cite the source definition in the field manual.

Census 2027 and survey timing

The Census of India 2027 runs in two phases: houselisting and housing census between 1 April and 30 September 2026, with each state using a 30-day window, and population enumeration in February 2027. Census work is done by government-appointed enumerators, not agencies. For surveys in the same areas, we plan around state HLO windows to avoid respondent fatigue and confusion.

Listing outputs

  • Structure and household list per block
  • GPS point per structure
  • Hamlet or sub-block map sketch
  • Household counts for weighting
  • Selected sample with replacement rules
Borrowing from official practice

India's biggest household surveys set the standard buyers now expect from any agency. We describe those expectations here. We have not worked on NFHS or NSS rounds and do not claim to.

National Family Health Survey

How NFHS field agencies are chosen

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare designates IIPS Mumbai as nodal agency, and IIPS engages survey organisations and population research centres as field agencies through a selection process, often state by state. NFHS-6 fieldwork ran from May 2023 to December 2024.
National Statistics Office

NSSO urban frame survey sampling frame

The Urban Frame Survey, run in five-year phases, divides urban India into investigator units and UFS blocks with clear boundaries. These blocks are the urban sampling frame for NSO's large socio-economic surveys.
NSO operations

NSO field operations division survey manpower

NSO's field operations staff collect data for national rounds. Separately, MoSPI has issued RFPs to empanel survey institutions for NSO work, which sets out eligibility, team and quality expectations for outside agencies.
What that means for you

Census and demographic data collection survey services India buyers can compare

Ask any agency for its listing protocol, sampling method, supervision ratio, back-check share, and how it handles replacement households. Those answers predict data quality far better than a list of past projects.

Our position on substitutions

Scale

Multi-state studies fail on consistency more than on effort. The same question must mean the same thing in Bihar and in Karnataka.

One instrument

Translated, back-translated, piloted per language

A master questionnaire is translated into each language, back-translated by a different person, and piloted in every state. Codes stay identical so data merges cleanly.

  • Master questionnaire
  • Back-translation log
  • Pilot report per state
Survey 3/6 · AmenitiesOffline
How is drinking water in your area?
  • Comes regularly
  • Comes sometimes
  • Rarely / never
  • Don't know
✓ Section saved on phone · autosave
BackNext
One geography

LGD codes for every district, block and village

Sample areas are coded to the Local Government Directory so tables join with official data and nothing is misnamed between states.

  • LGD-coded frames
  • Consistent spellings
  • Urban ward codes
bharatsurvey.org/app/172/live
Ram Kumar · shift on
26.8467 N · 80.9462 E · ±12 m
14
Received
12
Accepted
1
Review
1
Outside
One standard

Same supervision rules everywhere

Supervision ratios, back-check share, GPS rules and duration flags are the same in every state and visible on one dashboard.

  • Fixed supervisor ratios
  • Common back-check form
  • State-wise quality dashboard
District household survey · Round 1Updated 12s ago · sample
3,000
Target homes
2,184
Visits
1,962
Enumerated
1,871
Verified
Daily verified recordsLast 12 days
Quality
Accepted1871
In review64
Outside area19
Weak signal8
Coverage · by block
Block A62%
Block B48%
Block C31%
Block D24%
One handover

Single clean dataset

Data from all states is cleaned against one rulebook and delivered with a codebook, weights and the syntax used for cleaning.

  • Codebook and weights
  • Cleaning log
  • Raw and clean files
Location evidence
Survey #BS-0412
  • In areaInside approx. boundary
  • Accuracy±12 m
  • Time09:42 · fresh fix
  • Mock GPSNot detected
  • Interview length11 min
Added to accepted count
Choosing a design

Household survey designs and when to use them
NeedDesignListing needed?Typical output
State or district estimatesTwo-stage cluster sampleYes, in selected villages and blocksWeighted estimates with confidence intervals
Every household in a small areaComplete enumerationThe listing is the surveyHousehold register and maps
Beneficiaries of a schemeSample from beneficiary list plus comparisonOnly for comparison groupCoverage and outcome comparison
Change over timePanel with re-contactAt baselineSame households at each round
Who uses household data

Evaluations

Government
When a department needs a third party evaluation agency for census and demographic data collection alongside scheme outcomes, we run the household modules and the outcome modules in the same visit.

Academic research

Research
Universities and institutes use us as a data collection agency for census and demographic data collection in their study districts, with their own questionnaire and ethics approval.

Programme planning

Development
NGOs and CSR teams use household baselines to set targets and select villages.

Market sizing

Corporate
Companies use sampled household data on assets, spending and access to size rural and small-town markets.

Not the right fit if

  • You need the official Census or an NSS round: those are run by the government
  • Administrative records already answer the question
  • You need results in days across several states
  • You want household data linked to Aadhaar without a licensed process

A good fit if

  • No reliable list of households exists for your areas
  • You need estimates by district or state with stated precision
  • Fieldwork spans languages and low-network areas
  • Reviewers will audit individual records

Government survey solutions

All government and scheme surveys.

Learn more

GeM procurement

How to procure survey services on GeM.

Learn more

Empanelment

How survey panels are structured.

Learn more

Third party evaluation

Independent scheme evaluation.

Learn more

सरकारी सर्वे

Government surveys in Hindi.

Learn more

Contact

Share states, sample and timeline.

Learn more
FAQ

Straight answers to the questions people ask most about this topic.

What does a household survey agency do?

It prepares or obtains a frame of households, selects a sample, trains and supervises interviewers, collects data at the door, checks its quality and delivers clean data and reports. A good agency documents each of those steps so the client can see how every number was produced.

How long does a multi-state household survey take?

It depends on sample size, number of states and languages, and whether listing is needed. Listing, translation and piloting alone commonly take several weeks before main fieldwork starts. We share a week-by-week plan with the proposal instead of a single headline date.

Do you replace households that are not found?

Only under rules fixed before fieldwork, with the reason recorded and supervisor approval. Unreached households are reported, because a high replacement rate is itself a finding about data quality.

Have you worked on NFHS or NSS?

No, and we do not claim to. We describe how those surveys select field agencies and build frames because buyers use them as a benchmark, and we design our own protocols to meet similar standards.

Sources: PIB: Census 2027 houselisting and housing census · NFHS Project, IIPS · MoSPI: Urban Frame Survey · MoSPI: Empanelment of Survey Institutions for NSO (RFP) · Local Government Directory (LGD)

शाम के समय कस्बे का हवाई दृश्य
India Nationwide, Hindi-first

Send states, districts, target sample and the main indicators. We will reply with a listing and sampling plan and a timeline.

Request a proposal See pricing