The project is being run by the Office of the Registrar General on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and will cover nine states.

It is the first time that a private agency has been awarded the task of running a panel to generate statistics on maternal and child health indicators, and will be extended to cover other states.

TNS will collect data about diet and nutrition, hygiene practices, health screening and other specific antenatal and early childhood health issues.

Interviews with a “substantial” sample will commence this year and will consist of a mixture of primarily face-to-face meetings with some mixed mode interviewing, the firm said.

Mark Francas (pictured), global deputy head of TNS Political and Social, said: “This is a very important win for our unit in India and it will help consolidate TNS as a leading player in the social research market in the sub-continent.”

He added that alongside Africa, India represented a “key focus” in the firm’s strategy for political and social work in emerging markets of the developing world.