Market research firms seek budget relief

3 April 2013 03:11 am

The Market Research Society of Sri Lanka (MRSSL) is now seeking tax concessions for the profession through provisions in Budget 2013.

“Sri Lanka is a relatively small market. However market research and its implications for the country’s corporate sector will gain more importance in future. There were provisions in Budget 2013 for tax concessions for companies engaged in research and we are now applying for them.

If we are successful in this endeavour, then the ultimate benefit of concessions would be passed on to our clients and resulting in more research being carried out which in turn should help Sri Lankan corporates operate more efficiently.” MRSSL P r e s i d e n t , R av i Bamunusinghe said.

He made the comments during a presentation on the implication of global trends in market research for Sri Lanka at the inaugural gathering of the MRSSL recently.

Despite having already grown into a one billion rupee industry in Sri Lanka, Bamunusinghe noted that the annual average amount of money per person being spent on market research remained significantly lower than international averages.

He estimated that approximately Rs.5060 per person was currently being spent on market in Sri Lanka as against international averages of approximately Rs. 700 per person annually.

 “I’m not saying that we should reach such high levels of spending in the near future but this amount should increase, and likely will in the near to medium term as companies begin to seek insights into consumer behaviour, as opposed to purely numbers.

We are now able to find out not just what people think but how they think. We used to be known as an industry which was constantly looking in the rear-view mirror but with improvements in our methodology, we now have the ability to connect the dots and predict what comes next be it positive or negative and our insights must be taken seriously.” Bamunusinghe stated.