India Social Enterprise Landscape Report, 2012

As part of an Asian Development Bank Regional Technical Assistance (RETA), Shujog provided a broad overview of the SE landscape in India, covering various sectors and profiling 120 Indian SEs. The report highlights social and environmental needs, how SEs are addressing these needs, the key barriers confronting SEs, and the different enablers that facilitate SE activities.

Summary

Social enterprises (SEs) have the potential to make India’s spectacular growth story work better for its poor citizens. Currently, India’s rapidly growing economy has not managed to alleviate the extreme poverty of nearly half the country’s population that lives below the $1.25 per day poverty line. There are several reasons for this, including non-uniform infrastructure, low quality public good provision by the government (especially in health and education), and resource limitations. By employing innovative business models, SEs are addressing India’s vast development needs, while maintaining sustainability through viable revenue models. Simultaneously, this space is witnessing an increasing number of impact investors who are interested in supporting businesses with triple bottom line returns – that is, profits (or financial sustainability at the least), social impact, and environmental impact.