Image by Sonia Dhankhar on Shutterstock In our previous blog post, we highlighted the case of farmers who use their smartphones to access entertainment/social media applications (see Figure 1) but at the same time cite lack of digital literacy and familiarity with technology as barriers to adopting digital agricultural/financial services. In general, this is consistent with existing research… Continue reading Smartphone applications for farmers — insights on design-related challenges
Photo by By Mahin Badusha on Shutterstock The study of household finance has been concerned with how households use and ought to use financial markets to achieve their objectives. A vast majority of Indian households are either inexperienced or new to the concept of using financial markets to achieve their objectives. In this setting, one of the… Continue reading Retail Financial Markets with Inexperienced and New Financial Consumers
Photo by By Saurav022 on Shutterstock Prateekbhai tells me most of his collection is European. “These are Hungarian,” he says with pride, as he points to two beautiful specimens. I shuffle my feet rooted in a small village along the coast of South Gujarat, where Prateekbhai shows me his prized pigeons. I am in a hatch, surrounded… Continue reading People of Bharat: Prateekbhai, Navsari
Photo by Saurav022 on Shutterstock Usually financial habits of a household are gauged through their cash management strategies, income-expense flows, investment in human capital, stock of physical and financial assets, borrowings, and transfers. In our ongoing survey of slum households in Chennai, we captured these details through an initial survey and conducted follow-up interviews with these households… Continue reading Ration shops with a banking rationale?
Boom Country? The New Wave of Indian Enterprise by Alan Rosling is a detailed, investigated narrative about the past and present entrepreneurial landscape of India with an overtone that brings to attention the future possibilities for entrepreneurship. The book originates from a deep, personal wrestle with the author’s own entrepreneurial intention and examines the multi-dimensional… Continue reading Boom Country? The New Wave of Indian Enterprise
Running for cover: access to insurance in India According to a report published by Lloyd’s late last year, India has the second largest insurance gap in the world. Insurance gap is the difference between insurance cover availed and the actual cost of recovering from major catastrophic events. For instance, if an individual needs insurance… Continue reading Insurance as value-added service for low income customers
Bhanuben 46, is a native of Morbi in Saurashtra, but was born, raised and married in Ahmedabad. She lives in an urban settlement in Ahmedabad. I ask her if she is married. She bursts out giggling in response. Of course she is married! I tick it off in the form. Bhanuben tells me she… Continue reading People of Bharat: Bhanuben, Ahmedabad
Photo by India Picture on Shutterstock. In our previous blog post, we summarized preliminary findings from our ongoing work on the various factors influencing user learning and experience in the context of smartphone based digital agri-service/financial apps for the farmer segment. Here, we highlight and discuss an interesting anomaly when it comes to the usage of mobile… Continue reading The curious case of the farmer with the smartphone
“We have spice plants too”, Prabhat points eagerly, “plants with leaves that you add to food. Like oregano, rosemary, as they say”. “Herbs?” I offer, as I follow him through the small the nursery, treading carefully to avoid saplings cluttering the path. “Yes, those” he agrees. It is late evening on an early… Continue reading People of Bharat: Prabhat, Ahmedabad
Photo by Victor Moussa on Shutterstock There is a saying about how- if you want God to laugh, tell him your plans. Recently I’ve begun to suggest an addition to it- ‘If you want God to laugh, tell him your plans and your research proposals’. Project Kish was a blue sky project from inception. When the objective… Continue reading Plans, Pivots and Prayer
Over the last 4 months, we have been working on ground in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Nagaland, in order to understand the role of product/interface design and other factors that influence and enhance the usability of smartphone based agri/financial services. In previous posts, we laid out the context, and our findings from an initial… Continue reading Using smartphone-based applications: Some challenges faced by farmers
“You will need to wash that off after 15 minutes”, says Mamta, instructing me on how to remove the face pack she has just applied over my face. Mamta works for a company that offers various professional services to customers in the comfort of their homes. These include salon services; customers can book the… Continue reading People of Bharat: Mamta, Ahmedabad