Nielsen just made its first India buy with acqusition of research and analytics firm Indicus Analytics

In its first major acquisition in India, global information and insights provider Nielsen has bought research and analytics firm Indicus Analytics for an undisclosed sum.

This is the first time Nielsen is following the inorganic growth strategy in India and it is keen on more such acquisitions in the country in the future.

Delhi based Indicus Analytics analyzes, and reports the latest economic, market and consumption trends used by its clients which include consulting, ministries and policy groups, MNCs, and domestic companies across multiple sectors.

The company’s product basket include Market Skyline of India - district profile, City Skyline Neighborhood Series, District GDP, Urban Consumer Spectrum, Towns & Rural Blocks of India to name a few.

“This acquisition will help Nielsen add capabilities for macro and microeconomic research and analytics with relevance for both public and private sectors,” said Piyush Mathur, President, Nielsen India.

Nielsen together with Indicus will develop new services to provide solutions that will deliver insights to understand Indian economic activity by micro geography, enable demand forecasting for various product and service categories, and understand consumer segments by income, education, health, infrastructure and other micro parameters. Current and future solutions will help marketers, strategists, planners, and policy makers, to provide insights and decision support for strengthening public policy and impact, market entry, market expansion, and media strategies for precision marketing.

Nielsen India has also appointed a separate team to drive its mergers and acquisitions strategy.

Indicus’ MD Laveesh Bhandari will join Nielsen as the chief economist officer.

According to a Mint report , Nielsen is also looking at launching its new service Twitter Ratings, popular in the US, in India soon.