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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...
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- South Asia
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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...
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- South Asia
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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. ...
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- South Asia
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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 ...
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- Uncategorized
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- South Asia
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Stabilizing Pakistan: Boosting its Private Sector
As it struggles to contain a growing insurgency, Pakistan has aroused concern that it is a failing or fracturing state. One aspect of the international community’s response has been to place new focus on Pakistan’s economic weaknesses. On completing his first hundred days in office, U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledged that the Pakistani government was "fragile" and lacked capacity to deliver basic services to its people, making it difficult for them to gain support of the populat...
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- South Asia
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Max New York Life to Focus on Rural Areas
Max New York Life will now tap the rural and semi-urban markets across the country with its innovative and specially designed policy — Max Vijay, riding on the Peerless’ network. Peerless General Finance and Investment Company (PGFIL), on its part, will take in 30,000 fresh “smart advisors” in the present year to sell Max Vijay. Max New York Life will also help grooming these smart advisors. PGFIL, at present has 50,000 smart advisors across the country. ...
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- South Asia
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Builders, Politicians Cheer Affordable Homes in India
Mumbai: A recent state government lottery for about 4,000 low-cost apartments in Mumbai drew more than 430,000 applications, underlining the need for affordable housing in a country where housing is also a top election issue. Political parties of all hues have seized on affordable homes as a vote getter in India’s ongoing general election, plugging in to the frustration of millions priced out of a real estate boom fuelled by a robust economy and a six-year bull market. Devel...
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- Uncategorized
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- South Asia
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In the Nano’s Headlights
The Nano has more than lived up to its nickname — the people’s car. Judging by reports that the car has attracted bookings of close to a million, the market has now confirmed that the car has been a stupendous achievement for Tata Motors and its chairman, Ratan Tata, who conceived of just such a vehicle and marshalled his forces to deliver what most auto-makers had declared would be an impossible task. It is a tribute to India’s achievements in low-cost innovation that the g...
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- South Asia