Every start-up from the first cohort of the Financial Inclusion Lab offers a distinguished product or set of services that suit the needs of LMI segments. With MSC’s technical assistance, these start-ups have improvised their offerings and successfully strengthened their businesses. The start-ups are progressing well and have been receiving accolades across dimensions for their distinguished work. Stay tuned for more updates!
Blog
Creative economies as a gateway to pro-poor tourism in India
The paper discusses the role that creative economies can play in transforming the tourist regions as engines of youth employment growth and upskilling. The paper details out the strategies that can be employed to rejuvenate the creative economies such that they can retain the existing youth as well as attract others.
Boost to financial inclusion initiatives for LMI segments in India
The FI Lab was set up to support early-stage fintech start-ups. The Lab will help the start-ups understand the LMI segment better to build stronger products and businesses. Eleven start-ups were selected after an extensive process of screening and evaluation. We have captured the lessons from the first cohort in a series of blog posts that discusses the unique offerings and challenges of each start-up.
Digital Governance: Is Krishna a Glimpse of the Future?
This paper reports on research to better understand the functioning and effectiveness of its reforms to strengthen state capacity by digitalizing service delivery. Against the wider backdrop of the use of Aadhaar in India, it summarizes Andhra’s reforms, which go beyond those of most other jurisdictions in the measures taken to strengthen accountability, offer choice of service provider, and incorporate feedback loops using the vast amount of data generated by a real-time digital service system as well as beneficiary responses. It reports the results from surveys of beneficiaries who receive food rations through the Public Distribution System (PDS) and/or pensions, and on the response of landowners and tenant farmers to the digitization of land records, another important program. The results suggest strong support for the digitalization of these programs. The way in which the reforms have been implemented has indeed led to substantial improvements in delivery (as seen by beneficiaries) as well as, probably, significant fiscal savings.
Is this case, then, a model for other Indian states and for other countries? Perhaps yes from a technology perspective; there are many lessons that apply to a wide range of programs and services and that others can usefully draw on. The picture is more complex from a political economy perspective, as suggested by some of the particular features of Andhra.
Access to finance for enterprises (including agriculture sector businesses) in Kenya
This video gives highlights on access to finance to enterprises in Kenya and reveals that there is a huge gap for financing. Similarly, there are huge opportunities that financial players can exploit towards bridging this gap. Watch to learn more
Supporting the Government of India to digitize
Rajiv Srivastava, UP Mandi Parishad, explains how MSC has worked hard to implement the eNAM program in Kannauj APMC successfully. MSC’s effective implementation of the program will benefit both farmers and traders. Dr. Pawan Bakhshi, India Lead, Financial Services for the Poor at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation speaks on the changes MSC’s services have brought about in social welfare payments to the poor in India and in solving the challenges of making the Indian government’s DBT program operational.