Gayatri, 50, has been working as a cleaner at a women’s paying-guest accommodation in Delhi. A short, rotund body belies an appearance of prosperity. She shows me a sari that she received from another resident. ‘It is a little faded, but isn’t that in fashion nowadays?’ she asks sarcastically. I merely nod, noticing the… Continue reading People of Bharat: Gayatri, Delhi
It was just another day, the calendar displayed — 10th of October. Anusha snoozed the alarm clock for the 10th time at 2 in the afternoon. Having slept for over 12 hours now, she finally gathered the strength to open her eyes. She thought it was the excess of alcohol consumption that was causing… Continue reading Lifting Spirits at MoodCafe
In 2010, India began an ambitious project to provide a 12-digit unique, permanent, and digitally secure identification number to its residents by securely capturing the demographic (Name, DoB, Gender, Address and Mobile No.) and biometric details (Fingerprint and Iris Scan). Under the leadership of Nandan Nilekani, a dedicated team of experts collaborated together to… Continue reading Startups building on IndiaStack: A Landscaping Study
The sound of scissors clicking becomes more salient, as I walk towards a bowed head and dexterous fingers tapering on. Vikas Thakur’s alfresco salon is left to the mercy of the weather with a worn out chair that faces the mirror hung on a brick wall under the open sky. Losing his father’s acquired… Continue reading People of Bharat: Vikas Thakur, Ranchi
Photo by CRS PHOTO on Shutterstock For those of you who have been reading my previous blogs on various aspects of financial decisions and interventions for urban low-income household, we are back with some field observations, findings, and preliminary thoughts. To give a quick recap, our project “Decoding financial lives of Urban Poor” was to systematically understand… Continue reading Financial lives of Urban Poor — What did we find on the field? (Part 1)
The platform at the Lucknow railway station is like any other; the hustle and bustle of passengers compounded by the coming and going trains. I make my way to a shop selling dairy products and refreshments at the platform. This shop; the only one at the platform — is a local chain of stores… Continue reading People of Bharat: Yogesh, Lucknow
Amidst a weekday buzz on a busy street in Kolkata, I step into the sweet shop Maa Bhabatarini Mistanna Bhander. You can never have enough dessert they say. Shades of white, beige and brown greet me from behind the display counter. Dimly lit, the shop feels like a stark contrast after the bright afternoon… Continue reading People of Bharat: Probir Sarkar, Kolkata
Jai Kisan is a lending platform that uses technology to provide credit solutions to farmers for equipment used in agriculture and allied activities. It has identified its niche in financing farming equipment (excluding tractors) because of the existing finance gap that exists in Indian markets. This blog walks us through the genesis, struggles, and… Continue reading Jai Kisan: Farmer’s gateway to quality financial services
This blog highlights the journey of Xtracap, a fintech start-up that provides extended credit to low- and middle-income merchants in India towards their daily working capital needs through its flagship technology platform — Bridge2Capital. Yash is a readymade women’s wear shop owner at Krishna Market, Chandigarh, clocking daily sales ranging from INR 10,000… Continue reading Bridge2Capital: Instant supplier credit in three clicks
This blog highlights the journey of Kaarva, a fintech start-up that provides salaried people from the low-and middle-income segments with early access to a portion of their earned salaries for the month without charging any fees. Ram drives an Ola cab from 8am to 8pm across Bengaluru and makes about INR 50,000 each… Continue reading Kaarva: A micro salary advance for a micro expense
Navana is a fintech start-up that develops innovative design solutions that help illiterate and semi-literate people to use modern digital mobile services intuitively. Bhavesh, 42, works at a kirana (grocery) store in Ahmedabad. Having dropped out of school in 5th grade, he struggles with using a mobile phone. So, on his smartphone he… Continue reading Navana Tech: Mobile tech for low-literates
How do technologies such as machine learning and natural language processing transform our shopping experiences at the local grocery store? Read this fascinating blog about munshiG, a fintech start-up, to know more. Sanjay owns a kirana (grocery) store in the busy streets of Khar, Mumbai. With over 70 customers visiting his store daily,… Continue reading munshiG: Digital assistant for grocery stores