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India turns to the private sector to bring health care to underserved areas
Public health care institutions — ranging from primary health centers that form the backbone of the system in rural areas to larger district-level hospitals — are hampered by a lack of manpower and inadequate resources such as diagnostics, pathology services and stock-outs. As a result, most people rely on the private sector for health care, which provides almost 80 percent of outpatient and 60 percent of inpatient care.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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India’s most popular mobile wallet company is pushing to disrupt financial services with a new money market fund
Paytm recently became the second nonbank to leverage India's payment bank initiative, which works to give more consumers access to mainstream financial services. As part of the initiative, Paytm will be able to accept deposits, issue debit cards, and facilitate online transactions, but it won't be able to lend money to consumers.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Impact investors face US$39bn opportunity in education microfinance
“Education offers extraordinary social returns in the sense that a decent schooling remains the best opportunity for most to escape poverty,” said Nathan Byrd who heads the Opportunity EduFinance program.
- Region
- South Asia
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On Bitcoin, India’s Government And Tech Companies Find Common Ground
Clearly, despite some initial reservations, the Indian government is keen on understanding how Bitcoin works and is willing to deploy resources to build frameworks.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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Startups abound, healthcare no longer a distant dream
“With this technology the remote doctors are able to monitor the patients all year, in all seasons. The equipment significantly increases the reach and effectiveness of the hospital,” said Swami Ekdevananda at Advaita Ashrama in Uttarakhand.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Hike beats WhatsApp to launching messenger app payments in India
Hike, which is introducing version 5.0 today, is starting out with peer-to-peer and bank-to-bank payment options, the former being an in-app wallet that is not dependent on a bank account and the latter a service powered by India’s government-backed UPI payment system. Beyond sending cash to each other, Hike has also introduce a ‘blue packet’ feature that lets users gift digital envelopes of cash for special occasions, such as birthdays.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- digital payments, fintech
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The power of a billion: India’s genomics revolution
India is the land of inventors and industry, spices and spirituality - and 1.3 billion human genomes. But although the subcontinent contributes around 20% of the world's population, the DNA sequences of its people make up around 0.2% of global genetic databases.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Sri Lanka’s first reality show to promote entrepreneurship and impact investment
“Our vision is to build a thriving social enterprise sector in Sri Lanka by 2025. Ath Pavura is a giant step in our journey. The purpose of Ath Pavura is to find and promote social entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. It’s the best opportunity for entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka to promote their innovative solutions to social and environmental problems on television and inspire many more aspiring future social entrepreneurs,” said Social Enterprise Lanka Founder Eranda Ginige.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
- Tags
- impact investing
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