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Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
A Sattva Initiative
41 episodes
6 days ago
Welcome to Decoding Impact, a social impact podcast hosted by Rathish Balakrishnan, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Sattva Consulting. Through Decoding Impact, we aim to spotlight critical societal issues, the solutions currently available and the substantial barriers and trade offs that exist today to achieve them. Thought-provoking conversations with innovators, experts and leaders from civil society, business and government and offers a unique platform to spotlight tangible solutions to achieving societal impact. Join the journey, let's decode impact, one conversation at a time.
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All content for Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan is the property of A Sattva Initiative and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Welcome to Decoding Impact, a social impact podcast hosted by Rathish Balakrishnan, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Sattva Consulting. Through Decoding Impact, we aim to spotlight critical societal issues, the solutions currently available and the substantial barriers and trade offs that exist today to achieve them. Thought-provoking conversations with innovators, experts and leaders from civil society, business and government and offers a unique platform to spotlight tangible solutions to achieving societal impact. Join the journey, let's decode impact, one conversation at a time.
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Business
Episodes (20/41)
Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Transforming India’s State Capacity with Mission Karmayogi | Real Challenge of State Capacity

Episode 1 | Decoding Impact – Season 4

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Sattva Consulting

Guest: Dr. R. Balasubramaniam (Dr. Balu), Member–HR, Capacity Building Commission (Government of India) and Chairperson, Social Stock Exchange Advisory Committee (SEBI)This thought-provoking episode of Decoding Impact spotlights the evolution of state capacity in India and its critical role in India's development. It features an in-depth conversation with Dr Balu, an acclaimed development scholar, author, and founder of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), as he shares powerful insights from over four decades of work spanning grassroots development, advising major institutions, and shaping public policy from within the system.Together, they explore the paradoxes of India’s relationship with its government, the tension between public reliance and skepticism, the evolution of the state from a colonial apparatus to a citizen-centric enabler, and the deep-rooted challenge of building effective state capacity.Rathish and Dr. Balu also unpack the historical, philosophical, and practical lessons behind public administration in India, with reflections from the Ramayana to the present-day Mission Karmayogi initiative.Key Topics Discussed1. The true meaning and evolution of state capacity in India2. Why “training is for circus animals”, rethinking capacity building beyond repetitive skills3. Lessons from India’s heritage on governance4. The shift from individual heroism in bureaucracies to system-wide effectiveness5. Why civil service competencies must be rooted in historical and cultural contexts6. The on-ground realities: workforce shortages and systemic performance barriers in public service7. How Mission Karmayogi aims to future-proof India’s civil services for a tech-enabled, citizen-centered future8. The shared responsibility of citizens and the state in nation-building#StateCapacity #Governance #India #PublicPolicy #SocialImpact #MissionKarmayogi #Leadership #podcast

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3 weeks ago
46 minutes 20 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Are jobs in India pulling people out of poverty? ft. Manish Sabharwal

From the macro to the micro and everything in between, in this episode of Decoding Impact, Manish Sabharwal illuminates the economics of India's current job market and the systemic levers needed to thrust India into grasping its full potential as an economy, society and nation. As one of the foremost experts on India's job market and the plight of Education in India today, Manish shares his expert insights, critical frameworks, and orbit-shifting views on how India can address its challenges at scale across its diverse geography, complex beaurocracy, and challenging education system. Some of the key insights he shares with host Rathish Balakrishnan include: • India does not have an unemployment issue, but a wages issue & there are five key levers where this can be addressed • However, across these five drivers regulatory cholesterol is a key limiting factor to India's labour market • Addressing the discrepancies between formality and informality means solving for poverty • Moving beyond the current drudgery in education requires five key design principles • Apprenticeships need to play a more significant role in how India is skilling its future workforce • We need clarity of vision in what education is giving children in India, which includes the traditional three "r's", but also important soft skills Manish elucidates each insight with clarifying data and global comparisons to ground the Indian story of where our labour market is today, and where it could be in as little as five years time with certain critical changes. Tune into the latest episode from season three of Decoding Impact today! Manish Sabharwal is is Vice-Chairman of TeamLease Services, one of India’s leading staffing and human capital firm. Additionally, he co-founded India Life, an HR outsourcing company in 1996, and is a member of the National Skill Mission, Central Advisory Board of Education and has served on various policy committees for education, employment and employability.

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11 months ago
1 hour 10 minutes 37 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Powering Prosperity: Emerging Promise of DPIs in India's Energy Sector ft. Dr Nikit Abhyankar

The Indian energy sector is at a critical juncture. Electricity consumption, a key indicator of economic growth, has grown significantly over the past 50-60 years, and India is primed to leapfrog into a sustainably powered future.


This transition calls for a robust policy foundation, technological advancements in demand-supply and storage mechanisms, and a keen study of economic incentives for users of green energy. In this episode of Decoding Impact, Rathish Balakrishnan is in conversation with scientist Dr. Nikit Abhyankar to unpack the unique opportunity India has, to transition to renewable energy, with economic viability and technological feasibility at the centre.


Through this conversation, you will learn about:


• The interplay between energy consumption and economic growth;


• The potential for the energy sector to leapfrog mirroring India's telecom boom;


• The policy environment, key shifts necessary in demand management, and


• The role of digital public infrastructure (DPI) in facilitating efficient energy transactions.


Tune into this latest episode of Decoding Impact today!


Dr Nikit Abhyankar is a Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a Senior Scientist at the Center for Environmental Public Policy of the University of California, Berkeley. Dr Abhyankar has conducted extensive research and policy analysis on a range of key energy issues such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, and energy access in the United States and key emerging economies such as India, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. He regularly advises governments, regulators, and utilities in multiple countries on designing clean energy policies and programs.


Guest: Dr Nikit Abhyankar


Host: Rathish Balakrishnan


Producer: Meenakshi Iyer


Produced by: Pickle Jar Media


Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic:

Enabling Energy Transition Through Open Networks


Green Roads Ahead: Decoding India's EV and


Digital Public Infrastructure ft. Akhil JP & Arun VinayakDigital Public Goods Glossary

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1 year ago
59 minutes 46 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Are we settling for less in India's Education system? ft. Akshay Saxena & Vandana Goyal

With the recent Union Budget announcement allocating ₹1.48 lakh crore to education, employment, and skilling, one question we continue to grapple with in the impact ecosystem, but in Education especially, is whether money is enough to really achieve the outcomes needed?


Since Independence, Education has been the cornerstone of growth, development, and perhaps most importantly, hope for the nation. Yet, after so many decades of interventions, well-intentioned individual efforts, and the collective intent across philanthropy, the corporate sector, and government, why is Education in India still falling short of excellence?


In this episode of Decoding Impact, through a rich and powerful discussion with expert guests from Avanti Fellows, Akshay Saxena, Co-founder & co-CEO, & Vandana Goyal, Managing Trustee & co-CEO, host Rathish Balakrishnan delves into challenges across scale, systems, and gender in Education today to understand what it will take to truly scale excellence in India's education system.


Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic:

• Decoding ASER for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Outcomes with Dr Rukmini Banerji

• Decoding Mafias, National Heroes, and the role of Government in Education ft. Anil Swarup

• Barriers to Breakthroughs: Encouraging Girls’ Participation in STEM Education


Guests: Akshay Saxena & Vandana Goyal

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Produced by: Pickle Jar Media

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1 year ago
1 hour 19 minutes 39 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
#Rapidfire ft. Akhil JP & Arun Vinayak

Get to know more about our latest guests featured on Decoding Impact, Akhil JP & Arun Vinayak,⁠ through this revealing rapid fire! Listen to the latest episode of Decoding Impact!: 🔴⁠ ⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟣 ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔵 ⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Website

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1 year ago
2 minutes 24 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
What is social innovation? Decoding challenges and tailwinds for India's entrepreneurs ft. Manoj Kumar

India is the third largest innovation ecosystem in the world. From India's transformational growth in the IT sector to her rapid digitisation, innovation is truly having its moment in India today. However, despite this promising outlook, social innovation continues to face challenges to scale.


Faced by the perennial challenge that the problems for people and planet are running faster than the solutions being created to solve them, social innovation has a critical and lasting role to play in ensuring we break the cycle of creating poor solutions for the poor. In this episode of Decoding Impact, Rathish Balakrishnan and expert guest Manoj Kumar engage in a dialogue on social innovation that is not only helpful to understand the innovation landscape in India today, but to also numerous ideas and examples of what social innovation looks like.


Through this discussion you will get insight into:

• India's innovation landscape

• The mental models for entrepreneurs to succeed

• The architecture needed for social innovation to scale

• How we need to look at unlocking diverse forms of capital from across CSR and Philanthropy


Tune into this latest episode of Decoding Impact today!


Manoj Kumar is the founder of Social Alpha, a multistage innovation curation and venture development platform that has supported over 300 startups under his leadership. Manoj is one of the pioneering forces in India's social innovation landscape, with a wealth of expertise and hands-on experience founding startups.


Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic:

• Decoding the Rupee for Rupee impact of blended finance ft. Ramraj Pai

• Decoding the Role of Philanthropy in Blended Finance ft. Prachi Windlass

• Guidebook: CSR and Corporate Philanthropy Towards Innovation


Guest: Manoj Kumar

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Produced by: Pickle Jar Media



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1 year ago
1 hour 30 minutes 55 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Green Roads Ahead: Decoding India’s EV and Digital Infrastructure ft. Akhil Jayaprakash & Arun Vinayak

Worldwide, roads are increasingly seeing the presence of electric vehicles (EV) and India is expected to take 30% of the EV market worldwide. However, these tailwinds are attracting many players to the EV ecosystem, from suppliers to customers, to make EVs a reality on the road.


In order to ease the challenges that these stakeholders could face in coming together, Digitial Public Infrastructure could have a key role to play and could help:


• Reduce frictions

• Enable greater customer experience

• Drive better adoption for electrical vehicles in India, especially when it comes to the charging experience



To learn more about India's burgeoning EV market and understand whether the promise of DPI can enable the EV market to solve some of its current challenges, in this episode of Decoding Impact Rathish Balakrishnan is joined by Akhil Jayaprakash, co-founder at Pulse Energy, and Arun Vinayak, co-founder at Exponent Energy. Through this discussion Akhil and Arun share their expertise to help us understand who the key stakeholders are in the EV market, what is the user experience when it comes to EV today in India, and what unification using DPI could look like in the EV market.


Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic:

• Decoding the Economics of MSMEs and why they should leverage Digital Public Infrastructure ft. Neelkanth Mishra

• Decoding Account Aggregators with Shalini Gupta

• Decoding India’s DPI Learnings for the Global South with Prof. S Rajagopalan

• Decoding Digital Public Goods & Digital Public Infrastructure with Dr. Pramod Varma


Guest: Akhil Jayaprakash and Arun Vinayak

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Produced by: Pickle Jar Media


Chapters


00:00 - Precap

01:30 - Welcome

01:43 - Topic and Guest Intro

03:28 - Akhil & Arun's journey into the EV ecosystem

08:21 - The key players in EV

11:41 - What a vertically integrated stack looks like

12:32 - The EV Market

15:51 - Summarising insights on the EV market & players

17:07- Approaching the new world with an old world mental model

26:36 - Challenges in the charging EVs

30:22 - Access to EV for different vehicles

35:45 - Understanding the user experience of the EV charging infrastructure

41:13 - Moving past the obvious solutions

48:39 - Summary and further understanding of how to solve for charging anxiety

59:10 - Achieving unification through a DPI approach

01:06:58 - Where can unification unlock value

01:10:05 - Imagining the end game

01:16:31 - Wishlist for scaling EV infrastructure in India

01:20:29 - Summary & Thanks



#ElectricVehicles #EVMarketIndia #EVCharging #DigitalInfrastructure #CustomerExperience #RapidCharging #SoftwareInteroperability #ChargingInfrastructure #ConsumerConcerns #GridChallenges #RealEstateChallenges #UnifiedEVInterface #UEI #GovernmentSupport #EVStandardization #EVAdoption #ProprietaryInnovation #OpenNetwork #ExponentEnergy #PulseEnergy #Entrepreneurs #SustainableMobility #GreenTechnology #EVRevolution #CleanEnergy #FutureOfTransportation


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1 year ago
1 hour 23 minutes 16 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
#RapidFire ft. Prachi Windlass

Get to know more about our latest guest featured on Decoding Impact, ⁠⁠Prachi Windlass, through this revealing rapid fire! Listen to the latest episode of Decoding Impact!: 🔴 ⁠⁠ Youtube⁠⁠⁠ 🟣 ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcast⁠⁠⁠ 🔵 ⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠ 🔗 ⁠⁠⁠Website

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1 year ago
2 minutes 56 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Decoding the role of philanthropy in blended finance ft. Prachi Windlass

Philanthropy plays a vital role in the development sector naturally, however, in India today philanthropy capital accounts for only 5% of the total funding, with 95% coming from the governments.

Is there a way we can reimagine the development sector, as a market place, that can manage risk in the hope of certain returns and rewards? With blended finance there is an opportunity to change how capital fuels and enables scale of impact. Within the promise of blended finance, philanthropy could play a significant, catalytic role, and in this episode of Decoding Impact host Rathish Balakrishnan is joined by Prachi Windlass, a Senior Director and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, India, to discuss:

• What does blended finance look like in India today?

• How does philanthropic capital and other sources of capital come together to create a blended finance model?

• The maturity curve for blended finance to come in

• Tangible examples of how blended finance can enable impact

With the challenge of a capital shortfall to meet the total annual funding required for India to achieve the promise of the Sustainable Developement Goals by 2030, Prachi lends her experience and expertise to illustrate the true value philanthropy can unlock to enable a sustainable transformation in India's impact ecosystem. Listen to the latest episode of Decoding Impact today on Youtube!

Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic:

• Decoding the Rupee for Rupee impact of blended finance ft. Ramraj Pai

• Decoding Climate Finance with Varad Pande

• Guidebook: CSR and Corporate Philanthropy Towards Innovation


Guest: Prachi Windlass

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Produced by: Pickle Jar Media

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1 year ago
1 hour 10 minutes 37 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
#Rapidfire ft. Anil Swarup

Get to know more about our latest guest featured on Decoding Impact, Anil Swarup, through this revealing rapid fire! Listen to the latest episode of Decoding Impact!: 🔴 ⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠ 🟣 ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcast⁠⁠⁠ 🔵 ⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠ 🔗 ⁠⁠⁠Website

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1 year ago
3 minutes 21 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Decoding mafias, national heroes, and the role of government in Education ft. Anil Swarup

"There are three types of people who work in education today: those who know the reality of a classroom, there are those who know the reality of grassroots, but there are very few who know the reality of how government looks at education."


In this very special episode of Decoding Impact, host Rathish Balakrishnan is joined by Anil Swarup, Founder Chairman, Nexus of Good; Former Secretary, School Education (2016-18) & Coal (2014-16), and Author. Mr. Swarup joins us to help us decode the complex Education sector in India today and understand more about:


• The visible and invisible challenges in Education

• The role of the government between Delhi and the hinterlands

• How to enable young adults thrive in the Indian Education system

• Defining roles for different stakeholders in the Education sector


Tune in to the latest episode of Decoding Impact today to understand more about the government's role in Education as well as some unique stories from Mr. Swarup's incredible Bhārat Yātra across the nation!


Explore some of our SKI products related Education:


• Promising Avenues: Landscape of School to Work Transition in India


• Enabling Career Guidance and Mentorship for Smooth School-to-Work Transition


• Advancing Gender Equality in Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) Education in India


• Decoding ASER for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Outcomes with Dr Rukmini Banerji


Guest: Anil Swarup

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Produced by: Pickle Jar Media


Chapters


0:00 Precap

1:36 Welcome to Decoding Impact

1:50 Topic & Guest Introduction

03:12 Anil Swarup's journey into Education in India

06:44 The mafias in Education

14:58 Making Education politically salient

18:23 Anil Swarup's journey through education on the ground

24:31 Is Education enabling young adults in India today?

30:49 How to develop a winning aspiration for young people in India school systems

34:13 From policy to implementation

36:55 Addressing the government's mistrust in the private sector

39:58 Bringing in role clarity in school systems

44:23 Reflecting on the role of the facilitator and counselling

47:00 Understanding the role of different stakeholders in relation to the government

49:12 Who should play what role

52:10 State vs. central government capacity

54:00 Whose accountable for state outcomes?

56:30 Summary and thanks

58:11 General outro


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1 year ago
57 minutes 12 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
#RapidFire ft. Neelkanth Mishra

Get to know more about our latest guest featured on Decoding Impact, ⁠Neelkanth Mishra, through this revealing rapid fire! Listen to the latest episode of Decoding Impact!: 🔴 ⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠ 🟣 ⁠⁠Apple Podcast⁠⁠ 🔵 ⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠ 🔗 ⁠⁠Website

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1 year ago
2 minutes 3 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Decoding the economics of MSMEs and why they should leverage Digital Public Infrastructure ft. Neelkanth Mishra

The story of a digitised India being catalysed through Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is all around us through examples like UPI and Aadhaar, but they have an equally critical role to play in enabling the economic powerhouse that are MSMEs.


MSMEs are a popular topic, and one we have discussed a few times on Decoding Impact itself, but in this episode of we are trying to understand the role DPIs can play in enabling greater and more effective access to capital for MSMEs. To share his expert inputs on the podcast, host Rathish Balakrishnan speaks to Mr. Neelkanth Mishra, Chief Economist, Axis Bank and Head of Global Research, Axis Capital. Mr. Mishra helps us understand: • The context of MSMEs in India today • The existing capital access and supporting infrastructure, including global examples • The key tailwinds that can enable MSMEs to grow, like DPI

Through out Mr. Mishra shares tangible examples for how MSMEs operate, can scale, and their challenges. Tune in to the latest episode of Decoding Impact today!

Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic: • SKI Content on Digital Public Infrastructure and Goods


• Decoding Digital Public Goods & Digital Public Infrastructure with Dr. Pramod Varma


• Decoding India’s DPI Learnings for the Global South with Prof. S Rajagopalan


• Decoding Account Aggregators with Shalini Gupta

Guest: Neelkanth Mishra Host: Rathish Balakrishnan Producer: Meenakshi Iyer Produced by: Pickle Jar Media Chapters: 00:00 - Precap 01:21 - Welcome 01:31 - Topic and Guest Intro 03:04 - Neelkanth Mishra's journey from engineer to economist 05:42 - How will MSMEs contribute to India's 2047 vision? 08:44 - Understanding the role of micro enterprises amongst MSMEs 11:36 - Enabling MSMEs to flourish 15:22 - The mix of micro, small, and medium enterprises 20:15 - MSME's current access to capital & challenges 26:22 - Does India have the plumbing to enable small & growing businesses? 30:10 - The debt capital needed for MSMEs 34:31 - How countries have funded MSMEs traditionally 44:21 - How India is enabling MSMEs through technology 48:44 - Three key areas to unlock value for MSMEs through DPIs 58:34 - Solving for the MSME access to capital problem at scale 01:02:10 - What is the promise of DPI moving forward? 01:05:08 - Summary and thanks

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1 year ago
1 hour 8 minutes 28 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
#RapidFire ft. Ramraj Pai

Get to know more about our latest guest featured on Decoding Impact, Ramraj Pai, through this revealing rapid fire! Listen to the latest episode of Decoding Impact!: 🔴 ⁠Youtube⁠ 🟣 ⁠Apple Podcast⁠ 🔵 ⁠Amazon⁠ 🔗 ⁠Website

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1 year ago
3 minutes 30 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Decoding the Rupee for Rupee impact of blended finance ft. Ramraj Pai

At the core of enabling sustainable development it comes down to how it is funded that determines the success or failure of making true and lasting progress. Currently we face a significant challenge with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, as there is a huge constraint in the lack of available funds to meet out the expense of realising these goals. So how can finance maximise impact? In this latest episode of Decoding Impact we explore the topic of Blended Finance as a potential solution that can diversify sources of capital, from both commercial and public stakeholders. Through this discussion we break down and help listeners understand what is blended finance, the nuances behind its application, the risks, and where it should not be used, the enabling ecosystem that would allow blended finance to scale, and the regulatory challenges. Joining host Rathish Balakrishnan to discuss this topic is Ramraj Pai, Senior Advisor and ex-CEO at the Impact Investors Council (IIC). From his experience in social financing, Ramraj is able to shed light on this seemingly obscure topic and explain it in a very practical and example-based manner. If you want to understand blended finance, or look at how capital can enable impact with a rupee for rupee value, tune into this episode of Decoding Impact today! Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic: • Decoding Green Growth with Amitabh Kant• Decoding Climate Finance with Varad Pande • Guidebook: CSR and Corporate Philanthropy Towards Innovation • Investing for Impact: Social Stock Exchange in India Guest: Ramraj Pai Host: Rathish Balakrishnan Producer: Meenakshi Iyer Produced by: Pickle Jar Media


Chapters:

00:00 - Precap

01:28 - Welcome

01:38 - Topic & Guest Intro

03:05 - Ramraj Pai's journey in blended finance

06:51 - Lessons from working in the impact ecosystem

12:25 - Blended Finance for dummies

18:48 - Understanding four essential truths of blended

finance

22:29 - The nuances of stakeholders in blended finance

31:14 - Summarising insights around blended finance and considering the larger framework

36:12 - Categories for blended finance application

39:41 - The role of blended finance to scale innovation

42:20 - What is limiting the supply and demand of blended finance?

47:03 - The mindset shift needed for development financing to be catalytic & innovative

50:44 - Where can funders begin their blended finance journey and how can the government enable them?

55:44 - Summarising insights on how to enable the ecosystem and infrastructure for blended finance

59:04 - Regulatory challenges

01:04:36 - Blended finance and the four stages of the innovation life cycle

01:06:54 - Summary of key insights and enabling domestic philanthropy and the Social Stock Exchange

01:12:56 - Summary and thanks

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1 year ago
1 hour 14 minutes 16 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
#RapidFire ft. Kaushal Jaiswal

Get to know more about our latest guest featured on Decoding Impact, Mr. Kaushal Jaiswal, through this revealing rapid fire! Listen to the latest episode of Decoding Impact!: 🔴 Youtube 🟣 Apple Podcast 🔵 Amazon 🔗 Website

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1 year ago
2 minutes 52 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Decoding micro-irrigation for farmers and its role in India's water crisis ft. Kaushal Jaiswal

A part of solving India’s water crisis lies on its farms. From soil, to grain, cultivation, to harvesting, none knows the agrarian land in India and its potential more than our farmers. By empowering farmers with technology that will help them with greater yield, while enabling water conservation for the nation, the agriculture sector in India could be transformed.


The solution? Micro-irrigation. How has irrigation and the water problem evolved together in India? What is the promise of micro-irrigation? What are the barriers preventing this solution from scaling? Join Rathish Balakrishnan in the latest episode of Decoding Impact in discussion with Kaushal Jaiswal, MD at Rivulis Irrigation, for this practical discussion on micro-irrigation, the potential of India’s farmers, and a way forward to conserve water in India.


Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic:

• Transforming Crop Cultivation: Advancing Water Efficiency in Indian Agriculture

• Worsening Water Stress in Agriculture: Is There a Glimmer of Hope?


Guest: Kaushal Jaiswal

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Produced by: Pickle Jar Media



Time Stamps & Chapters:


00:00 - Precap
01:35 - Welcome
01:55 - Topic intro
03:02 - Guest intro
07:08 - How has discussing irrigation and the water problem evolved in India
10:00 - Micro-irrigation as a practice in the North vs. the South of India
13:01 - The invisible cost of water in agriculture
14:45 - Understanding the value of drip irrigation
19:44 - Are benefits of micro-irrigation visible to the farmer?
23:08 - Why is the adoption of micro-irrigation so low in India today?
30:59 - The role of AI in democratising micro-irrgation systems and set-up.
33:07 - The maintenance of micro-irrigation systems
35:27 - The solution to scaling micro-irrigation
38:53 - Reducing the friction for financing & the role of subsidies
41:58 - Scaling micro-irrigation for 1 million farmers
43:18 - The most investable solutions to scale micro-irrigation in agriculture
45:09 - Crops to prioritise for micro-irrigation
48:22 - Regions to prioritise for micro-irrigation
49:19 - The market for micro-irrigation in East India
52:23 - Financing micro-irrigation through climate financing
56:05 - Summary and Thanks
58:57 - Outro

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1 year ago
59 minutes 42 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Decoding the systemic challenges of women in agriculture ft. Ireena Vittal

The recent interim budget focused on how to enable women farmers, looking at how they can be raised up along with other smallholder farmers across India. Today, in certain key agricultural value chains like sugarcane, women make up 50% of the workforce. Yet their work is significantly undervalued as they face a 60% pay gap. This speaks to the deeper systemic challenges women in agriculture face, with their role and contributions being largely obscured. In the first episode of season 3 of Decoding Impact Rathish Balakrishnan spoke with Ireena Vittal, one of India's most respected independent consultants and advisors in agriculture, emerging markets and urban development. Through the episode they discussed: • How certain key agricultural value chains operate • Making all agricultural value chains equitable for all smallholder farmers regardless of gender • How women in agriculture can help themselves within these value chains through self help groups and collectivisation • The nuanced interplay of social norms impacting the economic empowerment of women Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic: • Gender Inclusivity in Commercial Agriculture • Formalising the Female Workforce in Indian Agriculture Guest: Ireena Vittal Host: Rathish Balakrishnan Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Produced by: Pickle Jar Media

Time Stamps & Chapters: 0:00 - Precap 1:20 - Introduction 2:59 - Guest Introduction 3:33 - Ireena Vittal’s Journey 5:00 - The invisibility of women in Agriculture 8:37 - The power equation for women in Agriculture 13:20 - The power of Collectives for women in Agriculture 16:27 - The systemic issues in agriculture - How do we address these? 17:28 - Understanding different agriculture value chains (part 1) 23:33 - Understanding different agriculture value chains (part 2 31:04 - Challenges in the Indian agriculture industry inhibiting smallholder farmers) 36:09 - The role of businesses in catalysing equitable agriculture 40:57 - Women in agriculture need better pay 45:17 - Women need to participate in the market 51:53 - Solutions to empower women in agriculture 55:01 - Shifting the gender equation at the intermediary layer in agriculture 58:12 - Summary & thanks 58:52 - Outro

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1 year ago
59 minutes 36 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Decoding Account Aggregators with Shalini Gupta

Despite gains in its financial inclusion journey, access to financial services is limited to 86% of India's population. Access to credit specifically is a persistent challenge, reflected in the unmet credit need of Rs 25 lakh crores - aggravated by disaggregated data and tedious data sharing processes.

Account aggregators are introducing open banking in India. They have the potential to revolutionise the credit market, empowering millions of customers to access and share their financial data across institutions in a secure and efficient manner.
To talk more about account aggregators and how these can enable financial digital inclusion, we have with us Shalini Gupta, the Head of Strategy at Sahamati. Sahamati is a member-driven industry alliance formed to facilitate adoption of the account aggregator ecosystem in India.

---- For more, follow Sattva Knowledge Institute on our ⁠Website⁠, ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠Twitter⁠. Host: Rathish Balakrishnan | ⁠Linkedin | Twitter Guest: Shalini Gupta | LinkedIn Producer: Anagha Wankhede Audio Engineer & Editor: Abhilash Raikar Designer: Usha Sondhi Kundu ---- Content Sections 00:00 - Decoding Impact Introduction

00:48 - Introduction to the topic and guest

02:32 - What is an Account Aggregator?

06:40 - What financial information is viable and who will use it?

10:21 - Personal Finance Management (PFM) Use Cases

13:14 - How big is the AA system today?

15:37 - A User's Journey in the AA Framework

18:17 - Common AA Apps

18:59 - Value in Data Sharing

24:53 - Resolving Conflicts of Purpose between Financial Entities

28:40 - A New Approach to Gauging Financial Health

34:36 - What is Sahamati's Role?

37:59 - How can Account Aggregators Unlock Value?

50:30 - The Interplay of OCEN and AA

55:57 - PFM for Women

59:11 - Account Aggregators for the Government

1:03:01 - What needs to fall in place?

1:08:02 - Employing Imagination to Utilise AA

1:13:54 - The Role of Philanthropic Capital

1:19:02 - Summary and outro

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2 years ago
1 hour 21 minutes 3 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Decoding a Life Cycle Approach to Mental Health with Dr. Pratima Murthy

India is grappling with a severe mental health crisis, with over 197 million Indians diagnosed with mental disorders, exacerbated by a wide treatment gap. The good news is that there is growing recognition of the importance of mental health in the country. However, a thorough understanding of what it entails, what forms mental well-being takes, how it should be approached and conceptualised, is lacking.


Mental well-being is intertwined with economic, cultural, social and other factors at various stages of an individual’s life. Effective interventions, therefore, should be contextualised to these aspects. How can public policy, market solutions and community solutions be designed with these in mind?


Joining us on World Mental Health Day to share her reflections on making mental health a key part of India’s development agenda, is Dr Pratima Murthy. Dr. Murthy is the Director of NIMHANS, where she has been pivotal in initiating Tele Manas, and establishing the state-of-the-art Centre for Addiction. She has also worked with the National Human Rights Commission to improve care for persons with mental illness.


For more, follow Sattva Knowledge Institute on our ⁠Website⁠, LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠Twitter⁠.

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan | ⁠Linkedin | Twitter

Guest: Dr. Pratima Murthy | Linkedin

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Audio Engineer & Editor: Abhilash Raikar

Designer: Usha Sondhi Kundu

Content Sections:

00:48 Introduction to the topic and guest

02:14 Why is mental well-being critical?

04:17 Recognising interconnections

08:10 Vocabulary and mental models

12:22 Context-specific intervention design

15:38 Designing population-scale interventions

23:11 Perinatal well-being

26:06 Mental health in schools

36:01 Mental health in workplaces

39:42 Prisons as a crucial locus

44:55 Mental health for the elderly

47:54 Improving access to care

51:41 Designing mental well-being models

58:22 Recommendations for philanthropy

1:02:15 Summary and Outro

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2 years ago
1 hour 3 minutes 36 seconds

Decoding Impact with Rathish Balakrishnan
Welcome to Decoding Impact, a social impact podcast hosted by Rathish Balakrishnan, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Sattva Consulting. Through Decoding Impact, we aim to spotlight critical societal issues, the solutions currently available and the substantial barriers and trade offs that exist today to achieve them. Thought-provoking conversations with innovators, experts and leaders from civil society, business and government and offers a unique platform to spotlight tangible solutions to achieving societal impact. Join the journey, let's decode impact, one conversation at a time.