Manager
Aakash Mehrotra is a Manager in the Data and Innovation domain of MSC India. He is a Management and Development Research professional with experience in leading the market and consumer research studies in several countries.
Adopting a segmentation approach to serve enterprises in Kenya: Insights from the FinAccess Household Survey 2021
We used the FinAccess data to develop a composite score-based index. This index helped us segment these MSMEs based on their sophistication levels to identify their business needs and growth opportunities and maximize their business sophistication levels. In this blog, we discuss our findings from this segmentation exercise.
Dec 9, 2022
Aakash Mehrotra, Lakshay Jain, Rahul Chatterjee and Chinmay Dabhade
Dec 9, 2022
Aakash Mehrotra, Lakshay Jain, Rahul Chatterjee and Chinmay Dabhade
Embracing the idea of financial well-being: Insights from India using the Global Findex database, 2021
The Global Findex 2021 describes well-being as a person’s financial resilience to deal with unexpected economic events, stress generated by common financial issues, and confidence in using financial resources. Our blog emphasizes the importance of financial well-being based on the Findex 2021 data to provide a more holistic view of financial inclusion in the country.
Nov 29, 2022
Nov 29, 2022
Were countries adopting digital payments financially resilient during COVID-19? The data suggests so
The COVID-19 pandemic spurred the growth of digital payments worldwide. MSC’s studies revealed the increase in scope and intent of digital payments among LMI groups and MSMEs. We analyzed data from World Bank in 2020 and the Global Findex Database 2021 to probe the relationship between the adoption of digital payments and the economic resilience of countries. We analyzed data from 11 countries. The research proved the hypothesis that the adoption of digital payments in developing economies has a positive correlation with financial resilience.
Nov 25, 2022
Nov 25, 2022
Data segmentation to understand your audience better
MSC strives to design better products and processes for our clients and evaluate the social value they create. Yet we cannot afford to consider the entire customer base of our clients as a single entity. MSC uses customer segmentation to account for nuances and differences in human behavior. We have worked with different clients to help them understand their customer’s banking needs, financial behavior, and creditworthiness. This blog presents our experience and lessons from our customer segmentation work to address clients’ needs.
Nov 25, 2022
Women at the heart of G2P initiatives: The Primary Education Stipends Program in Bangladesh
MSC and the Center for Global Development (CGD) assessed Bangladesh’s Primary Education Stipends Program (PESP), a gender-centric cash transfer program to improve primary school attendance rates. Over the years, benefit delivery of PESP evolved from cash disbursement to digital stipend transfers. Key evidence from our assessment shows women prefer digital transfers to cash-in-hand. Our blog shares evidence from the study using the “Design, Direct, and Digitize” (D3) framework to make a case for women beneficiaries as better contenders for G2P programs. Our blog looks beyond the impact of PESP on program outcomes—and highlights the socioeconomic implications of mobile money on women and the role PESP plays in gender equity and inclusion.
Sep 27, 2022
Arshi Aadil, Neeraja Sundar, Aakash Mehrotra and Lakshay Jain
Sep 27, 2022
Arshi Aadil, Neeraja Sundar, Aakash Mehrotra and Lakshay Jain
Do conditional cash transfers improve education outcomes? Insights from the PESP program in Bangladesh
In 2001, Bangladesh launched a Primary Education Stipend Program (PESP) that provides a conditional cash transfer (CCT) to beneficiary mothers. The cash transfer depends on the student maintaining a specific attendance rate and grades at the school. MSC conducted a mixed-method research to ascertain the PESP program’s effectiveness in achieving its objectives. We examined if CCTs can help attain better educational outcomes in terms of increased attendance and grades with lower dropout rates. It simultaneously examines similar studies undertaken elsewhere to support the hypothesis.
Sep 15, 2022
Aakash Mehrotra, Arshi Aadil, Lakshay Jain and Neeraja Sundar
Sep 15, 2022
Aakash Mehrotra, Arshi Aadil, Lakshay Jain and Neeraja Sundar
Low awareness of fertilizer subsidy: A challenge to subsidy reforms
The government has been considering a policy shift to transfer the fertilizer subsidy amount to the bank accounts of farmers rather than fertilizer companies. In our pan-India study with farmers we found that only one-third of the farmers knew that they purchase fertilizers at a subsidized rate. With such low awareness levels, this policy shift may evoke shock and displeasure since this would require farmers to first purchase fertilizers at the market price.
Nov 18, 2021
Nov 18, 2021
ChitMonks: Giving India’s oldest form of banking a new look
This blog is a sequel to our previous blog on ChitMonks under the Financial Inclusion Lab accelerator program. Chit funds are an old and essential financial service in India, which remains mainly in the analog mode. ChitMonks are working to digitalize the industry. In this blog, we take you through ChitMonks’ journey, the startup’s progress since the second cohort of the FILab, its struggles and achievements, and its plans.
Aug 26, 2021
Aug 26, 2021