FPO Research: A Few Perspectives

Photo by PrathanChorruangsak on iStock   When we decided to work on understanding the role of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) in bringing about financial inclusion of the marginalised communities, we had made a very structured and detailed timeline for all the activities pretty much in line with a professional project management case. However, an unexpected delay stormed… Continue reading FPO Research: A Few Perspectives

Credit and Tabula Rasa MSMEs

By ARAVIND TEKI on Shutterstock   AC Equipment is a Pune-based manufacturing enterprise involved in supplying automotive parts to one of the bigger firms, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) based in the city. It has been in existence for over 2 years with an annual turnover of more than INR 150 lakhs. It has in-hand orders but is… Continue reading Credit and Tabula Rasa MSMEs

Data Ownership & Gig Economy Knowledge Workers’ Perspectives

  It has been a year of transitions for workforces around the world. We have firstly gone remote, essentials only and socially distant. As the nature of work evolves, so do the skills required to adapt and survive in the new ecosystem.These transitions are not the result of Covid-19 alone. They have been in the… Continue reading Data Ownership & Gig Economy Knowledge Workers’ Perspectives

Meso-level Index Insurance in Practice

Photo by Matyas Rehak on Shutterstock   Insurance has an important role to play in agricultural risk management borne out of the ever-increasing instances of extreme weather events globally. However, its contribution to risk reduction and resilience depends upon the quality of the insurance tool; and whether it has been designed to respond efficiently to the needs… Continue reading Meso-level Index Insurance in Practice

People of Bharat: Narayan, Bengaluru

  ‘Did you have lunch?’ I ask Narayan. ‘No madam and no breakfast either.’ I arrange a South-Indian meal for him and encourage him to settle down while we wait for his lunch to arrive. At first he is restless and walks around the office looking at the posters on the walls. As lunch arrives,… Continue reading People of Bharat: Narayan, Bengaluru

Tirupur’s complicated relationship with China

Photo by Héctor J. Rivas on Unsplash   One among the many, that the coronavirus pandemic highlighted, amplified — is the complicated relationship Tirupur, a textile cluster in Tamil Nadu has with China. Tirupur exports about Rs 26,000 crore worth of textile products primarily to Europe and US. It also has a domestic sales of about Rs 24,000… Continue reading Tirupur’s complicated relationship with China

The Booming Alternative Protein Sector

Last year around this time if you would have asked any VC investor about the alternative protein sector or vegan meat products, it would have been a reflex movement to brag all about the success of Beyond Meat, the poster boy of vegan meat. But we have come a long way since then, and this is… Continue reading The Booming Alternative Protein Sector

Eko: Scaling up a fintech start-up in volatile market and regulatory environments

Eko India Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. started in 2007 as a business correspondent (BC) for banks, providing account-opening and cash-in/cash-out (CICO) services for non/underbanked Indian customers. Brothers Abhishek and Abhinav Sinha co-founded Eko. Over the years, responding to multiple opportunities that presented themselves and changing regulations, Eko developed a domestic money transfer solution through its… Continue reading Eko: Scaling up a fintech start-up in volatile market and regulatory environments

Let a thousand flowers bloom

Image by Uplift Mutuals   In India setting up an insurance company is not easy with a blanket minimum capital requirement of INR 100 crores irrespective of risks or geographical coverage. We seem to have an undeclared policy of having a large number of insurance distributors and a small number of insurance manufacturers — India… Continue reading Let a thousand flowers bloom

Sectoral Challenges and ICT Solutions

  The artisanal and micro-entrepreneurial industry in rural India are primarily home-based cottage industries and their workforce includes the members of the family, who often use existing indigenous skills which have been passed down the generations. Largely unorganised and fragmented in character — they often exist in areas where unemployment and under-employment are widespread. Conventional,… Continue reading Sectoral Challenges and ICT Solutions

People of Bharat: Roshni, Bengaluru

  At first Roshni appears to be shy and reticent but as the interview progresses, she opens up about herself. I met her one afternoon at the company she currently works for. Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic there was hardly anyone at the workplace with most of them choosing to work from home. Roshni comes… Continue reading People of Bharat: Roshni, Bengaluru

FPOs and Financial Inclusion: Theory & Reality

Photo by NEERAZ CHATURVEDI on Shutterstock   Like any other research team, we started by understanding and unwrapping the research hypothesis word by word — ‘whether FPO’s can be an effective vehicle for financial inclusion for small and marginal farmers’. Having shared our insight about FPO’s in our previous articles, we thought it was time we… Continue reading FPOs and Financial Inclusion: Theory & Reality

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