Image by Kaarigar Clinic The handicrafts sector is the second largest employment generator in India, providing employment to more than 7.3 million people. According to the national census of handicrafts, the Indian handicrafts industry is a billion dollar industry (worldwide) and contributes to 2% of the global market. According to the UN, over the… Continue reading A Digital Dukan for Kaarigars
Bhadra, 28, meets me at the entrance of the highway hotel where he works. He is tall, has a wheatish complexion and a pleasant demeanour. ‘Please accompany me to the backside’ he says and I follow him to what appear to be staff living quarters. We sit down in the balcony — I prefer… Continue reading People of Bharat: Bhadra, Ajmer
Image by Amitali on Shutterstock RBI recently came out with revised guidelines to elaborate Priority Sector Lending (PSL). It is an attempt to align PSL better with emerging national priorities and bring ‘sharper focus on inclusive development’. Lending to the agricultural sector (traditional, infrastructure and ancillary services) has been top priority for the past few years.… Continue reading FPOs and Bharat’s Funding Ecosystem
The recent pandemic as some say has created a level playing field in most of our lives. Entrepreneurs were (and are) staring at a never-imagined black swan. Brick and mortar business models suffered; while some tech enabled products and SaaS faced a good problem at a very bad time. Lack of funds hit both… Continue reading Impact is Real: Trends, Dynamics & Opportunities in the COVID era
November was marked by the world waiting to see the results of American elections. For us, it was a month of optimising a different kind of polling. Our surveys underwent three iterations over the course of the month and are now finalised for distribution to over 4000 individuals in the coming months. The key… Continue reading Catalysts to Accelerate Financial Inclusion
Image by By Shyamalamuralinath on Shutterstock In the last two blogs of this series, we articulated the point of view of sector experts and insurance providers about introducing meso-level insurance for agriculture in India. As we move forward towards building the case for meso-level insurance, in this blog we will discuss the perspectives of one of the potential… Continue reading Building a case for meso-level insurance: FPOs as Beneficiaries
I arrive at Pinky’s house in Aurangabad, a small town in Bihar. Pinky’s husband welcomes me at the door and tells me Pinky is doing pooja. I wait and in a few minutes Pinky emerges from an interior room. Pinky is 35, well-groomed and talks animatedly to me about herself. Pinky was born… Continue reading People of Bharat: Pinky, Aurangabad (Bihar)
Photo by Madhukar Kumar on Unsplash In March this year, when the government imposed lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic, the primary concern among most small business owners in Sivakasi, a fireworks cluster in Tamil Nadu — was their ability to supply, and not demand. For many, the equation was simple. The less number of days… Continue reading Why Sivakasi is preparing for a dull 2021
Image by Uplift Mutuals The recent recommendations by the IRDAI committee to allow standalone or exclusive Micro Insurance Companies (SAMI) has caused quite a stir and excitement in the financial inclusion space. In this blog, we de-code what it means for the microinsurance sector in general and mutuals and cooperatives in particular. What’s Great?… Continue reading Unbundling the Standalone Micro Insurance Company Recommendations
Image by pixelfusion3d on iStock As we commence our study of mobile based tools that can promote entrepreneurship, self-employment and livelihoods among rural women, we want to understand if a tool is accessible to rural poor women who face unique barriers to using ICTs (access, affordability, and cultural norms, among others). We would also want to… Continue reading Insights from Studying Community Radio Users
Walking through a small village in rural Telengana I find a woman sitting on a mud verandah outside a house, leaning against the wall. As I approach her, a cat napping by her side, jumps up and runs away surprised by the apparent stranger. I ask her for directions to the post office and… Continue reading People of Bharat: Pushpa, Hyderabad
Image by Freedomz on Shutterstock Our previous blogs have given a succinct glimpse into the chaos that a researcher gets into understanding farmer producer organisations (FPOs). The degree of mismatch between theoretical and actual definitions of financial inclusion and even farmer producer organisation is so high- we just do not have a standard to follow. The… Continue reading Building an FPO Database