Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan

The planet is on the verge of exceeding the 1.5 centigrade limit established by the 2015 Paris Agreement, placing the issue of climate change front and centre for all of us today. On the other side of this crises are vulnerable nations, who have fewer resource to fight climate change, and are facing the double jeopardy of climate justice. In our next episode of Decoding Impact we explored the topic of Climate Finance - focusing on the intersection between finance and climate change, and discussing the role India can play in the global agenda. Finance has a crucial role to play to support three key pillars of mitigation, adaptation, and loss & damage, which are all actions that are necessary to address climate change. So how much money are we talking about? What institutional structures do we need to put in place to accelerate action? To discuss these questions and more in detail with us, we sat down with Mr. Varad Pande a climate finance and investment expert. Varad is currently a partner at BCG shaping their work in climate and sustainability. For more, follow Sattva Knowledge Institute on our Website, ⁠Linkedin, ⁠Twitter,⁠ and Instagram: @sattvaknowledgeinstitute Host: Rathish Balakrishnan ⁠Linkedin⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ Guest: Varad Pande ⁠Linkedin⁠ | ⁠Twitter⁠ Podcast Producer: Meenakshi Iyer Audio Engineer & Editor: Abhilash Raikar Designer: Usha Sondhi Kundu 0:00 - Introduction 0:38 - Episode Highlight Reel 01:28 - Introduction to Climate Finance & expert guest Varad Pande 03:28 - The climate challenge evolution 09:18 - Why is climate finance so hard? 14:39 - Climate and the Global North vs. the Global South 18:46 - The Just Transfer of Resources 21: 31 - The third pillar of climate financing: Loss & Damage Fund 24:40 - Where is India's climate financing coming from? 30:21 - Transaction costs and blended finance 34:14 - Collective infrastructure to enable climate financing 39:50 - Infrastructure for climate financing that needs to be built 42:18 - Carbon markets and climate financing 48:21 - Mitigation to adaptation with carbon markets 51:50 - Climate change conversation: an opportunity for India 55:55 - Innovation and climate finance 58:40 - Message for key stakeholders 59:46 - Philanthropy and climate change 01:02:46 - Summary 01:03:51 - India's G20 Presidency and the opportunity to address climate change 01:05:38 - Thanks & Outro

India's G20 presidency is coming at a historic time. In the face of a mounting economic crisis, along with the demands placed by climate change, it is important for leading nations to pave a way for the world that is enduring and sustainable in the long term. 'Green growth' emerges as a critical priority, therefore, for the current G20 presidency. What is India's vision for green growth? And how is it steering this conversation globally? In the first episode of Decoding Impact Season Two, we are joined by eminent governance reformer, public policy change agent and the Indian emissary to G20, Mr Amitabh Kant. With Mr. Kant, our host, Rathish Balakrishnan unpacks what green growth means for India, and how it is critical to our G20 agenda. For more, follow Sattva Knowledge Institute onWebsite: https://www.sattva.co.in/knowledge-institute/Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/sattva-knowledge-institute/Instagram: @sattvaknowledgeinstituteTwitter: @sattvaknowledge Host: Rathish Balakrishnan Linkedin | Twitter Guest: Amitabh Kant Linkedin | Twitter Podcast Producer: Meenakshi Iyer Audio Engineer & Editor: Abhilash Raikar Designer: Usha Sondhi Kundu 0:00 - Decoding Impact Introduction 00:38 - Episode highlight reel 01:31 - Introduction to Green Growth & Guest Amitabh Kant 03:14 - Significance of India's G20 presidency 05:02 - Global green growth paradigm 07:42 - Evolving the understanding of “green” & “growth” 09:37 - Is India innovating and leading green growth? 13:18 - Improvements and progress India has made in green growth 15:10 - Green growth = economic growth 17:33 - Just green transitions 20:15 - Collaboratives and green growth 21:38 - Aspirational districts and green growth 23:07 - Sherpa’s definition of success for India’s G20 Presidency 24:19 - Summary and thanks 24:58 - Outro

In the last few years, digital health has emerged as a potential game changer for enabling accessible, affordable, and quality health care for all. The pandemic has only emphasised the role of digital health as a key enabler to achieve universal health coverage. In spite of the high potential of digital health, the urban-rural divide, the digital divide, the low economic social conditions and the low return on investment deprive the underserved populations of its benefits. In order to scale and implement digital health solutions in underserved populations, it is important to address the question of who pays for the service and how. This episode explores the current landscape of digital health in India, including the financial landscape. We also dive into innovative ways of addressing the gaps both in innovation and financing of digital health solutions, and understand the role that stakeholders can play in the scaling of these solutions.  Joining us in today's conversation is Badri Pillapakkam (Partner, Omidyar Network, India). Badri has been a part of the growth journeys of leading companies such as HexaHealth and 1mg, and healthcare, especially digital health, continues to be a key focus area for him.

With the government push towards an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, India has signalled that MSME will drive employment opportunities in the country. By 2025, MSMEs are anticipated to account for 50% of the national GDP and 60% of exports. Despite governments' best efforts, more than 90% of MSMEs remain micro-enterprises. Instead of growing from small to large firms, MSMEs are stuck in the missing middle syndrome- perennially small and unable to grow. While the government has taken steps to address this through various schemes, the MSME ecosystem has seen a rise of digital lending models as a potential solution to the credit gap. These digital models are enabling a digital footprint of businesses and also offering customised products based on the needs of the firms. In this podcast episode on the Financial Inclusion of MSMEs, we are joined by Bindu Ananth (Chair, Co-founder and Managing Trustee, Dvara Holdings), who has over 20 years of experience in the sector. We explore the challenges and potential solutions for the unique financing needs of MSMEs in India. We will also deep dive into major causes that have prevailed MSMEs in accessing affordable credit along with understanding the opportunities that lie ahead for digital lending in India.

As supply chains across the globe expand and evolve, the effect their operations have on the 3P’s - People, Planet and Profits, becomes increasingly complex.  The effects on livelihoods are immense as more than 450 million people today are employed as a part of global supply chains, with a significant proportion of informal livelihoods depending on them. Supply chain operations result in over five times higher carbon emissions than the direct operations of corporations. More than 90% of biodiversity loss and water stress is today attributed to unsustainable extraction and processing of raw materials, fuels, and food. The good news is that there is also an increasing willingness for firms, especially agribusinesses, to make their supply chains more resilient and sustainable on all fronts – one major decision being procuring or sourcing raw materials for their products sustainably. However, there continue to be supply- and demand-side challenges.  To discuss the nuances of this issue, we have with us Mr Jagjeet Singh Kandal (Country Director at IDH India) and Mr Rijit Sengupta (Head, Centre for Responsible Business). We discuss how we can address existing challenges, bridge information asymmetries, and make sustainable sourcing a reality.

The skilling landscape in India continues to be plagued by issues such as supply and demand mismatch of skilled personnel, limited training facilities and a lack of effective credentialing systems.  The Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood, or the DESH Stack e-portal has been launched with the aim to bring together stakeholders in one digital ecosystem, enabling easier discovery of opportunities and services and improving verification credibility through the digital skilling credentials of citizens. In this episode of 'Decoding Impact', we have with us Mr. Satish Mohan, CTO and Co-founder, Dhiway. Satish takes us through the evolution of digital platforms, elaborating how the DESH Stack can facilitate credentialing, verifiability and discovery for citizens, helping them secure gainful employment. Linkedin: Sattva Knowledge Institute Twitter: @sattvaknowledge Instagram: @sattvaknowledgeinstitute

According to PLFS 2021, a staggering 80% of women attribute their absence from the labour force to being engaged in domestic duties, making the unpaid labour economy a central theme for the discourse on women's economic participation in India.   In this podcast episode, we try to understand the context of women and the unpaid labour economy in India, and why Indian women are less economically empowered than other countries in the Indian subcontinent. We deep-dive into the methods to understand it and address some of these challenges.    To discuss this, we are joined by Dr Sona Mitra. Sona is currently the Principal Economist at IWWAGE and a Lead at Krea University. She also teaches as adjunct faculty at the Ambedkar University Delhi. Her specialisations are in research on gender and labour development, economics, public policy and labour statistics. Linkedin: Sattva Knowledge Institute Twitter: @sattvaknowledge Instagram: @sattvaknowledgeinstitute

Women account for 48% of India's population however, with only 19% of them being a part of the labour force, our country suffers from an alarmingly low female participation rate in the workforce.   In this episode of Decoding Impact, we have Mitali Nikore as our guest speaker who is an economist, a gender policy specialist and the founder of the youth-led research group Nikore Associates. In our conversation with her, we elucidate why a country like India which is considered one of the potential superpowers of the world lags behind with its women still not as economically empowered as they should be.   Through this dialogue, we unravel some key insights from recent important surveys like the PLFS and National Family and House Health Survey, explore themes like burdening societal expectations from women and discuss ways to make the situation better. Linkedin: Sattva Knowledge Institute Twitter: @sattvaknowledge Instagram: @sattvaknowledgeinstitute

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) are creating 11.1 crore jobs in India, second only to the agricultural sector. However, they are plagued by an acute shortage of, and access to formal credit. For this episode of Decoding Impact we will explore a potential solution for this in the form of technology, specifically the opportunities presented by the Open Credit Enablement Network, or OCEN. We explore how it can enable access to credit for MSMEs on a national scale. We delve into the network itself, as well as the engagement with lenders, credit products, distribution engine, and finally, the role of philanthropy in accelerating its adoption. To have this conversation with us, we have Mr Hrushi Mehta, who is a Co-founder and Chief Evangelist at CredAll. Linkedin: Sattva Knowledge Institute Twitter: @sattvaknowledge Instagram: @sattvaknowledgeinstitute

Small and marginal farmers comprise 85% of all the farmers in India. They are plagued by issues such as lack of bargaining power, credit taxes, unavailability of farm inputs and access to various government and private sector-led farm interventions. Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) have the potential to address these issues and make agriculture viable for Indian farmers. FPOs have been around for the last twenty years, and recently we have seen exponential growth in their numbers. However, the promise of FPOs, while exponential, is currently limited by a key factor. If the goal of doubling farmer incomes is to be achieved, it is necessary to find ways to build the capabilities of FPO leaders. Across the board, it has been acknowledged that building and finding this capability has been a challenge. To guide us through the myriad challenges that FPO capacity building entails, we have with us Mr Emmanual Murray for this episode of Decoding Impact. Mr Murray is currently working as an Investment Director at Caspian Equity, and is considered one of the most passionate and knowledgeable experts in the FPO ecosystem.  In our conversation, we get a picture of the FPO landscape, the challenges that prevent the scaling up of FPOs, the quality of leaders needed for this ecosystem, the role of capital and some promises that these institutions hold for Indian farmers. Linkedin: Sattva Knowledge Institute Twitter: @sattvaknowledge Instagram: @sattvaknowledgeinstitute