Axis My India's Pradeep Gupta says exit polls loss-making: ‘No media house…’

New Delhi: Chairman & MD, Axis My India Pradeep Gupta during an interview with PTI, in New Delhi, Wednesday, June 19, 2024.

Pradeep Gupta, the chief of Axis My India, revealed that exit polls are a loss-making venture for his company, sustained primarily for the visibility they provide rather than for profit. Gupta said that 70% of Axis My India's clientele consists of corporate clients, which is the main source of the company's revenue.

"Exit polls are a loss-making venture because no media house will pay as much money as that invested on the ground…the only profit that we make in exit polls is that we get visibility which we do not get while doing market research for corporate clients," he said in an interaction with PTI editors.

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He elaborated on the financial dynamics involved, explaining, “Besides the other investments we make on ground... every surveyor gets ₹500 for hitting the bull's eye (for an accurate prediction) and we covered 3,605 assembly constituencies (in this election). There are other incentives too depending upon the accuracy of prediction.”

Highlighting the trade-off between monetary loss and brand visibility, he said “So, if all would have gone right, this money would have gone but its (company's) brand equity would have been high... though it seems as a loss monetarily but its profit in terms of visibility.”

Axis My India's Pradeep Gupta weeps on live TV as exit poll predictions wildly go off mark. Viral video

Axis My India's exit poll had predicted 361-400 seats for the BJP-led alliance in the Lok Sabha elections, including 67 seats in Uttar Pradesh. However, the actual results showed the BJP securing only 240 seats, falling short of the majority mark, with Uttar Pradesh proving to be a significant setback as the party won just 33 seats.

Considered to be the poster boy of exit polls till June 4, Pradeep Gupta became the centre of a controversy when the Lok Sabha poll results dealt a hammer blow to the reputation of pollsters.

The opposition alleged that Gupta deliberately predicted a clean sweep for the BJP to manipulate the stock market.

Gupta has said he is open to facing all kinds of investigations.

"We have no connection with stock market whatsoever but I am happy to know these allegations because our data and system is so foolproof that any probe will give me an opportunity to showcase all of that is used to predict exit polls to the world. In a way it is an opportunity for us, I support the demand as it will give us a chance to show our credentials," he said.

Discussing the company's future plans, Gupta mentioned that Axis My India will consider a stock market listing once its other business ventures become profitable. "We are working on few products which are ready to be rolled out. Once they are successful, we will go for a stock market listing," he said.

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