NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Why Companies See Bright Prospects in Rural India

In late May, when India’s GDP numbers were released, many were happily surprised. In the fourth quarter of the fiscal year (January-March 2009), the economy grew 5.8% against expectations of less than 5%. For the year, growth was 6.7%, less than the 9% recorded in 2007-2008, but still very respectable during a global downturn. Multinational banks and brokerage houses rushed back to their spreadsheets to raise their growth forecasts for 2009-2010. But why were the estimates so pessim...

Source

Knowledge@Wharton (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

India Inc for PPP to better quality of education

The education industry is looking at an increased public-private partnership (PPP) in educational and training initiatives for matching skill-set demands of the industry with the available talent. Education is among a few sectors that has been insulated from the impact of a global economic slowdown but faces a huge challenge of reducing the gap of educated yet unemployable talent. “We would like to see more investment in PPP programmes to improve education quality at the bottom of...

Source

Hindustan TImes (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

The Infomercial Comes to Life in India’s Remotest Villages

By ERIC BELLMAN BENIPUR VILLAGE, India -- Advertisers in India can’t rely on TV, radio or even newspapers to reach the country’s 700 million rural consumers. So they use Sandeep Sharma. On dirt roads across the subcontinent, the former wedding singer cracks jokes, gives demonstrations and stages game shows to spread global consumerism, one village at a time. He is one of thousands of traveling performers who bring the world’s biggest brands to audiences of a hand...

Source

The Wall Street Journal (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Profit for Good

By Sarah Murray In water-scarce India, access to modern irrigation technology has long eluded the country’s 260m smallholder farmers. Now, small-scale manufacturing and a distribution system is bringing irrigation products to growing numbers of these farmers, generating water savings of 30-50 per cent, energy savings of 50 per cent and increased crop yields of up to 70 per cent. The new system is not, however, funded by a multilateral de...

Source

Financial Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Slumdog Entrepreneurs

Over the last five years, Mumbai has been blessed with two significant depictions. In 2004, Suketu Mehta wrote “Maximum City,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and is one of the best books about a great city in recent years. In 2008, “Slumdog Millionaire,” a romantic tale of urban poverty and quiz show success, sold millions of tickets and won a bucketful of Oscars. Both capture the energy and diversity of Mumbai, but neither adequately captures the economic...

Source

New York Times (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Crossing the Divide – The business of social good

Three years ago when we first started looking for money, we had only social venture funds interested in us; now, in the last month, I have got calls from mainstream venture capital funds who are interested in investing,” says Ashwin Naik, founder of Vaatsalya Healthcare Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a start-up that is building a chain of low-cost hospitals in rural and semi-urban India. That perhaps indicates how far for-profit social enterprises have travelled in the last few years to be r...

Source

Live Mint (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

GE Healthcare Innovates in India for Bottom of the Pyramid

GE Healthcare, the $17 billion health solutions business of General Electric Co, is acquiring a dual focus in India which is both similar to what it has for other emerging markets and also different. Like so many other MNCs, it is targeting emerging markets, of which India represents a major chunk, as a critical growth area. But India is also rapidly becoming a key geography where some of the innovative products to address the market at the bottom of the pyramid are being developed. ...

Source

Business Standard (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Something to Cheer: Nano Homes for Rs 3-5 Lakh

BANGALORE: Creating products and services for the bottom of the pyramid is the sweet spot where social objectives marry economic benefits. After cars and mobile calls, developers and social entrepreneurs are looking at creating ‘Nano’ homes. On the anvil are houses for between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for a constituency as diverse as domestic help, taxi drivers, plumbers, senior citizens, graduates, newly wed couples - basically, those who earn between Rs 6,500 and Rs 13,000 ...

Source

The Times of India (link opens in a new window)

Categories

Uncategorized

Region

South Asia