Gitanjali Ghate, Jasmeet Kaur Srivastava, 

In the past year, partners Srivastava and Ghate, who say they’ve known each other for 25 years, continued to study how India buys consumer goods. Through their qualitative market research company, The Third Eye, the duo works with clients on how to successfully weave a customer’s need with desire. They’ve had some notable successes, including playing a role in Cadbury’s relaunch of its dark chocolate Bournville. They’ve also signed on some new clients such as Coca-Cola and General Mills, while retaining Marico, Cadbury, and Colgate. However, getting companies to part with big money for research has been difficult given the slowdown—research is one of the first costs that get cut in bad times. However, the two believe that this is temporary, and have expanded their operations with a new office in Delhi.