MARCH bags Rs 40-crore APTDC project

The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) has awarded a project to city-based MARCH Marketing Consultancy and Research to make a feasibility study report on the possibility of setting up a convention centre in Hyderabad.

Addressing a press conference on the occasion of the first anniversary of MARCH Marketing, L K Kishore, its head, said that the project began in July and would be completed by the month-end.

"The project involves looking at the feasibility of setting up a Rs 40 crore convention centre which would be a multi-purpose facility," he said.

MARCH Marketing Consultancy is looking at opportunities in countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Egypt and South Africa to provide consultancy services. It is at present doing a project in Sri Lanka for an Indian educational institute which wants to set up a business and marketing school in Colombo.

"We are aiming at bridging the gap between consultancy and research. The company aims at providing in-depth research and consultancy rather than just providing mere market information based on data," Kishore said.

According to him, clients today are looking for insights rather than data-based market research and the market research is now in the domain of consultants.

"The market research industry in India is approximately 35 years old and is valued at Rs 400 crore, which in the next three years would cross the Rs 1,000 crore mark," he said.

MARCH Marketing provides consultancy services in over 25 sectors including automobile, biotech, IT and ITES, banking, financial services and FMCG. The company has over 100 trained employees in the management cadre and 2,500 field investigators in 200 cities across the country.