Mumbai,  20 September – The article by Shraddha Kothari, Manager, Intellecap  titled, ‘From Local Manufacturing to Digital Tech: How African Organizations are Pivoting to Support Maternal and Child Health During COVID-19’ was featured in Next Billion.

This article is part of NextBillion’s series “Recovery 2021,” which explores how businesses, development initiatives and the communities they serve in low- and middle-income countries are building greater resilience for a post-pandemic future.

Sub-Saharan Africa has witnessed a sustained improvement in maternal and child health outcomes in the last two decades. The maternal mortality ratio in the region has declined from 870 per 100,000 births in 2000 to 534 per 100,000 births in 2017. However, despite this impressive progress, the region still has the highest neonatal mortality rate in the world, with 27 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2019. It also accounts for over two-thirds of all maternal deaths worldwide.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has stressed global healthcare systems and reduced the availability of medical services across the board — and maternal, newborn and child health services are no exception. There has been a notable reduction in the utilization of these services in sub-Saharan Africa, as measures such as curfews and lockdowns have been used to curb the spread of the pandemic across the region, affecting how women seek and access health facilities in these countries.

In Liberia, for instance, the number of women who attended the recommended medical visits during pregnancy dropped by 18%, while the number of women seeking to initiate medical care during pregnancy fell by 16% in Nigeria. In Uganda, a study found that women’s attendance at antenatal services dropped by 26%. In addition, the study also noted a rise in: adverse pregnancy outcomes for Caesarean sections (5%), haemorrhages related to pregnancy (51%), stillbirths (31%), low-birth-weight (162%) and premature infant births (400%). Similarly, in Ethiopia the pandemic affected the utilization of reproductive, maternal and newborn healthcare services, worsening both maternal and perinatal outcomes.

This has, unfortunately, led to a further increase in maternal mortality in various African countries. Consequently, it is imperative to recalibrate and scale models that can prevent the further deterioration of maternal and child outcomes in the region’s already-strained healthcare systems. There have been some organizations that have done just that, benefitting from a reduction in their immediate supply chain vulnerability and also attaining long-term economic and environmental benefits. Below, we’ll explore a few of these organizations’ pandemic responses, and discuss what other healthcare providers can learn from them.

DEVELOPING LOCAL MANUFACTURING TO OVERCOME SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES

The Safe Motherhood Alliance, a for-profit social enterprise in Zambia, sells low-cost delivery kits to expectant mothers for a safer birth experience. As a result of the pandemic’s disruptions in the global supply chain, the enterprise pivoted its model and commenced manufacturing the products that it was struggling to source through its usual suppliers. It has developed the local manufacturing capacity to produce some of the items — such as sanitary napkins and face masks — that were needed for its delivery kits. Moreover, it has leveraged locally available materials, like the fibres of banana skins, to make sanitary napkins, allowing it to produce them at a fraction of the cost of importing them.

When the Safe Motherhood Alliance reaches full production, it will be able to sell these sanitary napkins to other relevant groups, such as adolescent girls. Overall, leveraging local manufacturing and available materials will not only enable the enterprise to support safer births at a lower cost, but it will also allow it to expand its customer base.

ADAPTING TECH-BASED MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH SOLUTIONS

In recent years, organizations have deployed several technology-based solutions to support improved health outcomes for maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa. As a result of the pandemic, some of these health-focused organizations have refined their models and formulated partnerships to support expectant mothers. For instance, Child.org, an NGO in Kenya that focuses on improving global child health partnered with MamaTips, a non-profit maternal health organization that has developed a mobile subscription service. The partnership enables Child.org to provide essential information to expectant mothers via SMS texts, in the absence of the face-to-face meetings that were a part of its delivery mechanism. Such partnerships can be effective in scaling existing programs focused on maternal and child well-being, even beyond the pandemic.

Another digital platform, MomCare, increased its offerings to expectant mothers during the pandemic. It provided women in Kenya with details on facilities that could be accessed despite the curfew, and also connected them to transport services so they could access these facilities. MomCare’s mobile phone-based application enables the staff at healthcare facilities to track the progress of expectant mothers digitally and in real-time.

Similarly, in Nigeria, the digital health enterprise mDoc expanded its scope of services to meet the pandemic-fueled increase in demand for digital health services by expectant mothers. This for-profit enterprise hired more coaches and deepened the support offered to these women. Given the limited access to health care facilities, the enterprise refined its curriculum and modified its processes to provide these expectant mothers with further guidance on clinical care and support to manage pregnancy-related health issues like high blood pressure.

These examples demonstrate that there is significant potential to leverage and integrate technology-based health solutions in the region — not only to provide care during the pandemic but also to improve and scale existing health service delivery and support services for expectant mothers.

COVID-19 has already worsened maternal and child health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. As the crisis gradually abates it will be critical to evaluate, adapt and scale health service delivery models and support service programs to prevent — and ideally, reverse — any further loss of the previous gains made in maternal and child health outcomes across the region.

Mumbai,  15 September – The Author, Sagar Atre from Intellecap uses his previous work experiences in fostering health innovations in the domain of infectious diseases, to talk about a recent outbreak through this article.

 Sagar’s article, which was covered by Financial Express titled,  Fighting Fever outbreak in Firozabad, UP and Ill preperaed health systems: Need for multi level approach is pertinent given the recent outbreak and gives us a sense of the hinterlands of India, where unsanitary conditions, poor preventive behaviours and a lack of surveillance mechanisms make it a breeding ground for many diseases.

In a recent article, Dr. Raj Panjabi, a noted public health professional and the head of the U.S President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) wrote, “Alarm bells don’t ring in health crises, community workers do.” This is especially true in the hinterlands of India, where unsanitary conditions, poor preventive behaviours, and a lack of surveillance mechanisms make it a breeding ground for many diseases.

The unfolding crisis in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh is an example of what such micro health crises can do if we don’t work towards enhancing our public health capabilities. Similar crises have occurred in 2015 and 2019, where outbreaks of similar fevers were attributed to dengue and scrub typhus. U.P. ‘s Bareilly has been one of the few urban areas to report a spike in malaria cases, reporting up to 20,000 cases in a span of weeks in 2019, at a time when malaria is nearly non-existent across much of India barring a few scant pockets.

Battling old scourges

Diseases such as malaria, dengue, scrub typhus, and leptospirosis are remarkably good indicators of glaring gaps in health systems. They can lay bare the hollow claims of policymakers by bringing health systems to their knees and giving doctors barely any time to respond. A lack of discipline in implementing prevention programs can lead to spectacular failures such as the one in Firozabad, where according to recent figures, around 5000 people are suffering from symptoms similar to dengue, while more than 100 confirmed deaths have occurred in Firozabad and other districts in Western UP.

Dengue fever is easy to ignore in usual public health systems. It causes mild illness in many people, but can prove to be fatal for the young and healthy with supposedly strong immune systems and wreak havoc among children. Aedes mosquitoes are suited to breed in cleaner water, in small water collections such as water coolers, among others and they bite mostly during the day, making bed nets and ointments redundant.

Another threat is scrub typhus, caused by a bacterium (O. tsutsugamushi) and spread through bites of small insects called larval mites which dwell in dry scrubs and bushes near the fields in rural areas, where children often play and many of those practicing open defecation need to go. Unlike Dengue and Malaria, scrub typhus has remained largely off the radar, and no real estimates can be gleaned from public health data. The third purported culprit of this outbreak is leptospirosis, usually contracted through contaminated water, soil or food. While scientific evaluations are unavailable, the Delhi government’s effort at making Sunday a day of clearing stagnant water in domestic settings was a doable task for most households.

Ill-prepared health systems

Most of India, especially the rural and semi-urban parts are ill-prepared to deal with most of these diseases. Most labs in such places struggle to perform tests which can differentially diagnose these ailments. The international pressure to control malaria helped the discovery of rapid diagnostic kits, but others such as dengue, scrub typhus, leptospirosis remain undiagnosed, or need a skilled diagnostician. Investments that are needed are often missing, and that means that most of the tests performed for diagnosing diseases remain inaccurate. While multiple forms of dengue tests are available, the RTPCR remains the most reliable. Tests for scrub typhus and leptospirosis remain unreliable and it is unlikely that they will be performed even in district hospitals in the country due to the facilities required. In sum, India’s In sum, India’s scientific efforts need to be directed towards developing tests which can help in diagnosing these diseases, or at least providing a provisional diagnosis for them.

The need for multi-level approaches

The key challenge remains the lack of a holistic thought process for tackling the challenge at multiple levels. Impact of infectious diseases on public health can be dealt with at four key levels. Primarily, it is our inability to implement basic practices of hygiene, sanitation and build strong primary health systems. The second issue is identifying and building strategies and strategic capabilities specific to India’s regions. The third is a lack of focus on developing innovative solutions which can tackle these health challenges through the country’s growing scientific capabilities as was done for COVID-19. Many of India’s institutions such as BIRAC, the DST, the IISc, IISER’s and IIT’s are now proving to be useful in creating innovative solutions for diagnosis and management. They need to be given the mandate of building solutions to tackle them. The final, and probably most complicated challenge is designing interventions which inculcate appropriate health behaviours and improve uptake of health services by the community. Many NGOs and institutions across India have been at the forefront of designing such initiatives across challenging geographies in India.

It would probably be appropriate to say that for India, apart from the fundamental capabilities to ring the alarm bells, we also need the capabilities to nimbly tackle the cause of the alarm, and prevent such incidents in the future.

Mumbai,  9 September – Currently, the textile industry is estimated to be worth USD 103.4 billion and is expected to grow up to USD 190 billion by the year 2025-2026.

As part of the Pro MFG Sustainable Circular Economy Series – Doing Well by Doing Good, powered by BiofuelCircle,  Siddharth Lulla, Lead – Corporate Strategy for  Circular Apparel Innovation Factory (CAIF), Intellecap, shares key insights on the need for stakeholders to come together towards bringing about circularity in the textile industry.

The Indian textile and apparel industry is one of the world’s largest, and is a major contributor to global textile and apparel production. Currently, the industry is estimated to be worth USD 103.4 billion and is expected to grow up to USD 190 billion by the year 2025-2026. Today, the Indian textile industry employs more than 45 million people, making it the second largest employer in India. It contributes to over 15 percent of the country’s export earnings, and almost 7 percent of the country’s industrial output (India Brand Equity Foundation, 2018).

Although the industry exhibits a positive trend in terms of growth, the question of sustainability looms large. The Indian textile and apparel industry has two broad issues related to sustainability. First, it is one the most polluting industries in the world. Secondly, it is plagued by social inequities.

More than 80% of textile waste generated is sent to landfills or incinerated instead of being recycled or reprocessed. At the same time, India is increasingly facing the pressure to match supply and demand due to resource constraints in core areas like cotton production. There is, therefore, a critical need to ‘self-disrupt’ existing practices and transition towards pathways, and Circular Economy (CE) is the ideal model to be followed.

Aligning with the principles of the CE entails adopting a more strategic and future-oriented mindset to the entire lifecycle of products from material production, manufacturing, use, and closing the loop on waste. A CE is an emerging phenomenon with the potential to completely change the textile & apparel system.

Products in such a system are designed to be used more; made to be made again and made from safe and recycled or renewable inputs. While prioritizing the rights and equity of everyone involved are not highlighted in the CE literature, this is another critical area that needs attention in the journey to ‘going circular’.

The need for transformational leadership

Companies and manufacturers at the forefront need to lead this transformation. With increasing awareness of environmental and social issues, global brands have started implementing sustainable strategies, which include adoption of sustainable materials, reduced use and wastage of resources across the manufacturing process, etc.

On the other hand, individual designers, small companies and grassroot initiatives are demonstrating alternative ways to more sustainable businesses. There exist several examples of how to design, manufacture and do business in the context of the circular economy, the scaled adoption of which would need a systemic perspective and collaboration between different stakeholders, i.e, designers, producers, manufacturers, suppliers, business owners and even the consumers. This, in turn, would lead to new perspectives and networks that open different business and design opportunities.

Key challenges involved

The transition to a circular economy clearly requires significant changes in both production and consumption models. Some of the factors that impede stakeholders in this transition include:

● Lack of knowledge, awareness of the range of solutions and best practices, capabilities to deliver circular business models that can seamlessly integrate with current systems

● Risks associated with adopting circular solutions and models such as technology risk, high capital investments, high transition costs in order to switch to new solutions

● Capturing value requires both recyclability and durability. Refurbishing products can be an expensive process, if done reliably. Similarly, most garments are composed of a mix of materials (e.g. cotton, viscose, polyester), which makes recycling difficult

– Enabling circularity involves a complex and expensive network of logistics both in terms of collection and recycling waste (textile, apparel, packaging, etc.) establishing customer-facing retail models like rental, e-commerce, subscription, etc.

● Consumers too, are required to overcome stigmas in using upcycled, repaired and refurbished products

● Lack of reskilling and up-skilling initiatives to make workers future ready

Given these risks, despite a rise of innovation by new startups/ innovators leveraging technologies and processes to create sustainable solutions, a very limited number of them have been able to scale and thereafter mainstream their solutions.

There is a need to work collaboratively so as to bridge the gap between innovators and manufacturers to promote large-scale uptake of green solutions, not only by leading brands and manufacturers but also by small and medium enterprises to move towards sustainable practices.

Given the fragmented nature of the industry, standardized solutions are unlikely to emerge anytime soon. Hence, we are more likely to see a diverse range of strategies centered around the following fundamentals:

1. Embracing sustainable design:

● Train and reskill design teams on the principles of circular design
● Invest in, incubate and experiment with alternative materials and fibers
● Reduce leakage in the system by concentrating on material recovery at both a pre and post consumer level
● Develop efficient supply chains with reduced demand of resources (energy, water) and packaging

2. Optimize waste-to-value processes:

● Adopt new technologies and solutions that use waste to manufacture new input materials such as fibers and yarns.
● Adopt innovative solutions to optimize sorting and recycling technologies.
● Partner with logistics partners and solution providers to collect and recycle waste (textile, plastics) generated in the supply chain.
● Develop collection points and home pick-ups to improve accessibility.
● Eliminate single-use packaging by using sustainable / recycled alternatives.

3. Drive Customer Adoption:

● Project sustainability and circular practices at the center of branding decisions
● Offer alternative business models such as rental and subscription
● Provide traceability information about the products to build customer awareness and buy-in
● Enable strategies and systems to encourage returns and recycling
● Use data analytics and tools to help customers make informed decisions and reduce waste

Given the ambitious sustainability goals set by brands globally, circularity is likely to be one of the key business trends of the next decade. The onus is on global brands to encourage action and behavioral change of their suppliers and customers. Today, more than ever, a collective effort of brands, the government and consumers is required to scale circularity in the textile industry, which is the key to a more sustainable future.

Mumbai,  23rd August – The article in BusinessWorld Disrupt titled, ‘Pathbreaking Innovation in the Clean Technology Sector in India’ authored by Ashay Abbhi and Kavya Hari, Intellecap, was the 3^rd one  as part of a 24 article thought leadership series we have forged with the Business World Group.

 According to the Central Electricity Authority, as of May 2021, the share of renewable energy in India’s total installed capacity (383.3 GW) stands at around 25% (95.6 GW). However, in power generation, it accounts for only about 12% at 14.13 billion units (BU) against a total generation of 118.09 Bus

The article sheds light on how we can transition towards a clean and green economy with an ecosystem-based approach.

India is at the cusp of its energy transition journey driven by the 3D concept – Decarbonization, Decentralisation, and Digitization. Even as large-scale renewable energy is rapidly making strides towards cleaning and greening the grid, fossil fuel-based polluting power generation continues to dominate India’s energy mix. According to the Central Electricity Authority, as of May 2021, the share of renewable energy in India’s total installed capacity (383.3 GW) stands at around 25% (95.6 GW). However, in power generation, it accounts for only about 12% at 14.13 billion units (BU) against a total generation of 118.09 BUs. Despite the growing share of renewable energy in the power basket of India, the challenge of providing clean energy to the on-grid and off-grid consumers still looms large. On the occasion of World Renewable Energy Day, Intellecap explores the mega-trends in the clean energy and climate change space in India highlighting key technologies within India’s 3D energy transition concept that promise a cleaner, more efficient, and resilient energy sector.

Green Hydrogen

Green hydrogen has recently gained traction as one of the fuels of the future. The term green is applied to the hydrogen production process when it is produced using renewable energy. The adoption of green hydrogen has the potential to decarbonize sectors with significant carbon emissions. It can be applied in the chemical and fertilizer industry for the production of ammonia and methanol, the steel industry as a reducing agent, commercial and residential heat production, power generation, and fuel for transportation. Currently, the country utilizes around six million metric tonnes of hydrogen. This demand is expected to rise to 11 million metric tonnes by 2029-30. Production of hydrogen of this magnitude can lead to large amounts of carbon emissions which can be avoided by promoting and scaling up green hydrogen.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has recently published the draft ‘National Hydrogen Energy Mission’ aimed at creating a green hydrogen value-chain, reducing production costs and phasing away from grey hydrogen (hydrogen produced from fossil fuels). The estimated cost of producing green hydrogen ranges from $3.6-5.8 per kg which is almost three times the cost of grey hydrogen. The recent indication from the government towards setting green hydrogen consumption obligations for the petroleum refining and fertilizer industry has led to traction from private sector and government players likewise. Notable examples include: Reliance Industries launched the India H2 Alliance (IH2A) to build the hydrogen economy; NTPC signed a MoU with Siemens for green hydrogen production from its RE plants; the Indian Oil Corporation plans to establish a green hydrogen plant to replace fossil fuels at its refinery; and Adani Enterprises is collaborating with Maire Technimont to implement green hydrogen projects.

Peer-to-peer Energy Trading through Blockchain

In the era of prosumers (consumers who produce their own electricity) peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading presents a viable solution to allow access to solar power for consumers with inadequate rooftop space or capital to set up solar power projects. Per this technology, excess energy from the solar rooftop plant of

a consumer can be sold to its neighbors. P2P trading uses blockchain technology to ensure transparent and reliable transactions. The transactions are carried out through smart contracts that can divert a pre-determined portion of energy to a consumer at a definite time, thereby encouraging decentralization and reducing the role of distribution companies and retailers. At present, the technology is only in the pilot stage and may take a few years to achieve universal acceptance. Significant resistance is expected from DISCOMs who may not like to see their high paying customers switch to energy trading. Moreover, the development of this infrastructure within high-density areas with limited rooftop space may not be financially viable.

India has already begun experimenting with P2P energy trading. BSES Rajdhani, in collaboration with blockchain technology provider Power Ledger, Australia, has created a solar oasis in Delhi’s grid-connected residential hub of Dwarka. The pilot project comprises 300 kW of solar power plants which services a group of gated communities. During the trial, residents with rooftop solar infrastructure were able to trade a total of 25 MWh of energy with their neighbors as well as with higher tariff commercial customers, minimizing the amount of energy that was spilled back to the grid.

Vehicle-to-Grid

Electric Vehicles (EVs) can use their batteries as decentralized storage systems for excess power when not in use, which can be fed into the grid through the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. EVs charged through solar-powered charging stations when combined together can integrate a considerable amount of renewable energy into the grid to help balance the load during peak hours. EV owners can be compensated in the form of direct payment per unit fed into the grid or through preferential EV charging tariffs. This bi-directional flow of energy can be especially useful when utilizing the time-of-day concept – EVs can use solar power to charge during the day and feed it back to the grid during the night. However, unless EVs scale up to the point where large amounts of energy can be stored in the batteries, V2G technology will remain a distant dream. Moreover, given the payment track record of cash-strapped DISCOMs, feeding energy into the grid may lead to financial turbulence for both the DISCOMs and the EV owners.

So far, research projects are underway in India to establish a proof-of-concept for the V2G technology. A simulation was carried out by The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) in Delhi to determine the utility of the V2G model in peak shaving, demand response, and demand-side management. The lessons learnt from the simulation suggest that the V2G model can be a viable option when combined with a financial incentive provided to the owners for feeding back units into the grid. With the increase in EV penetration across consumer segments, the V2G technology could help shave off peak load within small residential communities in the future, thereby reducing the load on the grid.

Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage

Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) or carbon sequestration have been around for a long time. However, it has found another lease of life with technological evolution and the introduction of direct air capture technology. CCUS, an auxiliary technology to the two primary streams of mitigation and

adaptation to decarbonize the environment, also improves energy reliability. At present, the technology is in a nascent stage with only 26 CCUS facilities capturing around 36-40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum globally. In India, there are only four facilities wherein carbon dioxide is recovered from the combustion of industrial flue gases and used to manufacture by-products.

India has a potential for carbon storage ranging from 5-400 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, mainly in geological formations. However, limited research and development on technical and economic feasibility, high capital and operational costs, and lack of regulatory/policy framework hinder market development of CCUS technologies in India. To address the R&D challenge, the Department of Science and Technology has established a national program on carbon dioxide storage to support research, development, and demonstration projects in 2020. It is also providing grant-in-aid support of up to $0.29 million under its Accelerating CCS Technologies (ACT) initiative. In the near future, industries are expected to lead the deployment of CCUS technologies with the increased focus on de-carbonization and net-zero pathways.

India has set a target of reducing the emission intensity of the economy by 33-35 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels under the Paris Agreement. Transitioning towards a clean and green economy requires an ecosystem-based approach with an emphasis on creating an enabling policy and regulatory framework, developing innovative financial instruments, and enhancing market demand and supply. The government has implemented various fiscal and financial assistance policies for generating power via renewable energy sources, improving industrial energy efficiency, and introducing electric vehicles for both private and public transport. However, there is limited focus on the development of new and innovative technologies through private sector engagement. Furthermore, between 2019 and 2020, the share of early-stage financing deals in the clean-tech sector fell sharply as compared to other sectors. To steer growth in clean-tech innovation, the government launched a global initiative, the ‘Mission Innovation CleanTech Exchange’ in 2021. This aims to drive global investment in research and development, demonstration, and commercialization of innovations in the clean-tech sector by catalyzing public-private capital. That said, there is a need to implement innovative financing approaches such as blended finance or rebates and incentive mechanisms as well as to provide scale-up financing for the commercialization of novel clean energy technologies.

Mumbai, 11 August – The article in BusinessWorld Disrupt titled, “Like in cricket, playing the middle overs is imperative” authored by Gagandeep Bakshi, Director, Intellecap, was the 2nd one as part of a 24 article thought leadership series we have forged with Business World Group.

The article talks how mid-market private equity deals that serve the traditional SME market is imperative when it comes to insulating the economy.

It’s a big YES but its’ not going to be easy. As we brace ourselves against the 3rd wave of COVID-19, the Indian economy continues to face distress. As per ILO, more than 400 mn in India are at risk of sinking deeper into poverty. While the government has been taking various fiscal measures to support recovery and resilience, private capital to has a significant part to play.

We saw a large number of tech start-ups mushroom in the COVID-19 world and VCs also had their hand full. The gig economy and e-commerce sectors show promise for generating employment, but they have to continuously keep raising capital to support the negative cash flows. It has been an uphill task for many to keep afloat. India ranks 3rd amongst global unicorns after USA and China with a combined valuation of USD 116 bn across 35 companies. With over $35.7 Bn in total funding, Indian unicorns are also the largest job creators and employers in the Indian startup ecosystem. Approximately, 70% of these unicorns are loss-making. Given the current global crisis, a financial collapse would be catastrophic for the surmounting unemployment rate in India. This is where our traditional sectors bring in longevity and resilience to the economy.

Unfortunately, in these difficult times, mid-market private equity deals saw a drop of approximately 32% compared to the pre-COVID-19 year. We also saw a drop of ~ 50% in traditional sectors that support employment and capital flow. This can be substantiated by 2 key data points – Firstly, a large part of the capital moved away from traditional businesses towards tech opportunities and COVID-friendly healthcare to insinuate at the “new normal”. Secondly, control/buyout deals saw increased traction compared to mid-market deals. Private Equity funds focused on mid-market opportunities saw their risk appetite going down with many uncertainties brought about with this pandemic. On the other hand, sovereign funds with significantly longer investment horizons have also seen dwindling risk appetite as they have been opting to do co-investments as opposed to direct investments.

We are seeing some interesting trends which could explain some of the gaps that need to be filled:

• Our country has a depleting count of risk-taking private equity funds including the sovereigns on one side and a piling dry powder on the other. As per a report published by Indian PE and VC association and Bain & Company, there was $8 bn in dry powder available with funds in 2020.
• Buyouts have recorded significant growth of almost 10x in the last decade
• Share of growth deals ($10-50 mn) or the missing middle (between the VCs and the large PE / buyout funds) has been going down in last decade
• Significant increase in the proportion of >$100 mn deals as a percentage of all deals in value compared to $10-50 mn deals. This also shows that PE funds are increasingly preferring larger ticket deals in mature companies leaving a growing vacuum in the SMEs for mid-market deals.

So what will help insulate our economy and businesses from these black swan events:
• More mid-market private equity funds that can support the traditional SMEs
• Mainstreaming of impact is now becoming a reality and we need more of that to happen soon. Limited partners now have a wide range of options to deploy their capital and General partners are using impact to differentiate and create value. TPG, Bain Capital, KKR, Partners Group, and others have created dedicated impact vehicles
• We need our very own DFI – not one but a few which focuses on specific themes and support businesses across their life cycle
• Need for higher domestic capital participation from pension/retirement funds in private equity funds. As Non-government funds, pension funds and gratuity funds can now invest up to 5% of their investible surplus in Category I and Category II AIFs registered with SEBI, this not only provides for financial stability in the Indian startup ecosystem but also boosts the confidence of the Indian market
• Lastly and more importantly, we need many more risk takers that can continue to show confidence and invest in the businesses even in difficult times

Mumbai,  05 Aug – Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (“Mitsui”, Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Kenichi Hori) announced today that it will invest INR300 million (approximately USD4.1 million) in Punjab Renewable Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd. (PRESPL), one of the leading biomass supply-chain management companies in India.

PRESPL is involved in the collection, storage and processing of agricultural residues and the production of biomass briquettes and pellets to meet the growing demand for biomass fuel from India’s rapidly expanding bio-energy industry. PRESPL also provides a range of operation & maintenance, and other technical services, to the industry.

One of the major causes of air pollution in India today is the practice of burning straw stubble and other agricultural residues left after crops have been harvested. To help address this problem, the Government of India has introduced policies to promote the effective utilization of agricultural residues as a primary and supplementary fuel stock for the bio-energy industry. These policies are expected to contribute to the continued expansion of the bio-energy industry in India, as part of a flourishing circular economy.

Masaharu Okubo, Country Chairperson of Mitsui & Co. India Pvt. Ltd. said:

“We look forward to working together with PRESPL to grow its business by combining our respective areas of expertise and leveraging synergies with Mitsui’s diverse business portfolio.

The growth of PRESPL will contribute significantly to reducing air pollution and carbon emissions in India by effectively using agricultural residues as a fuel-stock for the bio-energy industry and providing a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. We, at Mitsui are grateful to be able to join PRESPL and contribute to the betterment of Indian society and other related stakeholders.

 This investment is aligned with one of Mitsui’s important goals to create a more sustainable society, while furthering the expansion of our bio-energy business in India and around the world.”

 Lt. Col. Monish Ahuja (Retd), Chairman & Managing Director, PRESPL said:

“On behalf of Team PRESPL and existing shareholders, I am delighted to welcome Mitsui as an investor and strategic partner. This investment from Mitsui will help PRESPL expand our footprint and accelerate the growth of the business as a market leader in India and overseas. In partnership with Mitsui, we aim to make a meaningful contribution to tackling climate change through the better utilization of biomass agri-waste for bioenergy.”

 Intellecap’s Investment Banking Group was the exclusive and sole advisor to the PRESPL transaction across Series A, B and now Series C.

 Gagandeep Bakshi, Director, Investment Banking, Intellecap said:

 “We are seeing a clear shift towards cleaner fuel across industries with Agri residue becoming a substitute and creating significant demand of ~600 million MT by 2031. PRESPL’s pioneer business model directly contributes to increasing farmer incomes by providing an additional source of revenue through sale of the feedstock which otherwise is destroyed. We are proud to be associated with PRESPL as an exclusive advisor since their Series A”

Mumbai,  20 July – The article in VC World, part of Business World titled, ‘Off-Grid Solar refrigeration: Cure to the growing vaccine crisis’ coauthored by Ankit Gupta, AVP, Intellecap and Kavya Hari, Senior Associate, Intellecap, was the 1^st one  as part of a 24 article thought leadership series we have forged with BW Disrupt and VC World, part of the reputed Business World Group.

The article talks about the imperative need for off grid solar refrigeration , the cost effectiveness and key challenges and recommendations regarding off-grid solar refrigeration.

Need and importance of off-grid solar refrigeration for storage of vaccines

In India, reliability of grid electricity remains a significant challenge despite an electrification rate of 99.93% as per the Saubhagya Dashboard. According to the 2019-20 Rural Health Statistics, 28.4% of the sub-centres and 4.3% of the primary health centres (PHCs) in rural areas lack electricity supply; severely affecting the efficacy of health service delivery. A reliable source of electricity is required to enable refrigeration of medical supplies (like vaccines, blood, biological samples etc.) and ensure appropriate functioning of medical equipment.

In India, about 20-25% of all temperature sensitive health products (including vaccines) are spoilt or wasted due to insufficient refrigeration facilities. In terms of Covid-19 vaccination, the national average wastage is 6.3%, while the rate varies across states from 15% to less than 1%. Vaccine wastage occurs at both service and delivery levels – during storage, transportation and at vaccination centres. Majority of the vaccines (including Covishield and Covaxin) require a controlled temperature range from 2oC to 8oC to protect their potency. A vaccine’s efficacy is dependent on its potency, which can be reduced due to lack of proper storage and transportation facilities at the requisite temperature. Vaccine efficacy can be maintained by provision of reliable source of electricity through off-grid solar refrigerators.

Cost-effectiveness of off-grid solar refrigeration technologies

Solar direct drive (SDD) with phase change material (PCM) thermal battery and solar with battery (SWB) systems for ice lined refrigerators (ILRs) are the two most common types of technologies deployed in India. Technologies like SDD require only eight hours of sunlight to store thermal energy for a minimum of 78 hours of autonomy at an ambient temperature and a holdover time of 91 hours. SDD is also a more cost-effective technology mainly due to lower operational and maintenance costs at $8/litre compared to $16/litre for a SWB system. The higher cost for a SWB system is attributed to regular replacement of solar batteries.

In the absence of grid electricity supply, majority of the rural health centres use diesel generators that have higher operating costs (~$37/litre) due to recurring expenditure on fuel. Diesel generators also contribute to air pollution and have a detrimental impact on health and the environment. Typically, replacement of a diesel generation with solar technology for a 100-litre vaccine refrigerator (~1.9 kWh per day) can eliminate up to 720 kg of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Off-grid solar refrigerators thereby directly contribute to SDG 7 (clean energy) and SDG 13 (climate action).

Value chain of vaccine storage in India

The value chain for vaccine cold chain consists of a series of links that are designed to keep vaccines within WHO recommended temperature ranges, from the point of manufacture to the point of

administration. In India, vaccine distribution network is managed by four government medical store depots (GMSDs) located in Karnal, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. GMSDs procure vaccines from the manufacturers and supply it to ~53 state vaccine stores. These stores then distribute the vaccines at 114 regional, 736 district and 26,268 sub-district level cold chain points via insulated vans. There are limited vaccine transportation and refrigeration facilities at each of these stages which inhibit immunization services. According to the government, the country requires augmentation of cold storage from ~5.2 million in 2020 to 11 million in the next 5 years. The demand is highest for ice packs (44 lakhs in next 3 years) and vaccine carriers (5 lakhs in next 3 years), followed by demand for ILRs, cold boxes, among others. Innovative solar powered refrigeration technologies can reduce the existing supply chain gaps across cold chain points. A recent report by GOGLA and Intellecap mapped the total addressable market for off-grid solar vaccine storage at $811 million for last-mile delivery of services (i.e. health centres, chemists and ambulances) across rural India.

Ecosystem support for uptake of solar technologies

Given the ongoing pandemic, there has been a recent push from the government and development agencies for upscaling and deploying efficient solar technologies for vaccine storage as well as Covid-19 sample collection. In December 2020, the government announced usage of 29,000 cold chain points, 45,000 ILRs, and 300 solar refrigerators, among other applications for Covid-19 vaccine storage. By 2017, UNDP’s Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) program had supported installation of 20 solar refrigerators and 45 solar equipment systems across nine states. There is application of new solar technologies such as solar-powered swab collection kiosks by SELCO India at various PHCs in Karnataka. The government is also driving the agenda of proper storage and utilization of vaccines through its policies like the “National Vaccine Policy” and “National Health Mission” and its agreement under the global “COVAX Facility”.

Key challenges and recommendations regarding off-grid solar refrigeration

The main challenges hindering the growth of the off-grid solar refrigeration market for vaccines are the long and cumbersome process of government tendering and limited awareness among stakeholders at the ecosystem level. The government agencies at the national/state level procure vaccine storage units through a tender process based on the least cost bidder criteria. Some of the early-stage entrepreneurs with innovative solar technologies are unable to compete at low prices or provide scale for participating in these tenders. Additionally, delays in approval and difficulty in payment clearance from the government discourages entrepreneurs and impacts their financial viability. Lack of awareness among policy makers and financiers on types and application of off-grid solar technologies and limited information on commercial viability further impedes uptake of these technologies.

The key recommendations for promotion of off-grid solar refrigeration pertain to three overarching themes of (i) generating awareness among stakeholders and end-users; (ii) enhancing the policy regime for solar cold chain in health care sector; and (iii) improving financial assistance for high cost (upfront) solar refrigeration facilities. Few specific recommendations include:

• Conduct knowledge sharing sessions to highlight benefit of solar refrigerators over diesel and other technologies especially based on lifecycle costing.
• Establish a digital platform with data on technology applications and potential market segments to enhance knowledge about off-grid solar refrigerators.
• Empanel solar companies providing off-grid solar refrigerators through a bi-annual selection process to enable quick deployment of technology.
• Provide disincentives to health care centres for usage of diesel generators in favour of solar technologies (like off-grid solar refrigerators and solar PV systems).
• Provide a dedicated budget for implementation of DRE systems at health care centres through the existing national/state level policies.
• Aggregate financial assistance at the national/state level through external funds from development agencies, CSR funds, private foundations etc.
• Deploy/use innovations like blockchain to provide real-time visibility of vaccine distribution from manufacturing to administration and eliminate supply chain gaps.

It is evident that the need of the hour is to improve health service delivery specially to reduce vaccine wastage through sustainable and cost-effective innovations. Thus, implementation of traditional initiatives (policy, awareness) along with innovative solutions (blockchain) can improve the overall effectiveness of off-grid solar refrigeration that can revolutionize the vaccine sector in India.

Watch the Video – Vikas Bali, CEO, Intellecap at the Catalyst 2030 webinar speaking on ‘Catalyzing Collaboration between Companies and Social Enterprises’

Mumbai, 09 July – Vikas Bali, CEO, Intellecap was a Speaker at the Resonance & Catalyst 2030, on the topic ‘Catalyzing Collaboration between Companies and Social Enterprises’ talking about how & why companies partner with social enterprises to scale impact in their value chains and beyond.
Moderated by Steve Schmida, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Resonance, the panel comprised of Alexandra van der Ploeg. Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP and Naa Akwetey, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, at mPharma.

To watch the webinar video – Click Here

More on the Session ‘What happens when large companies join forces with Innovative Social Enterprises’:
Over a relatively short period, sustainability has become central to the corporate world. In 2011, 20% of S&P 500 companies published sustainability reports. By 2019, 90% did. And this shift is global: A 2020 survey of 5,200 companies across 52 countries found that 80% now report on sustainability, with a significant majority linking their business activities to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The question is: what next? How should companies turn pledges and promises and reports into lasting and effective action?
The short answer is that collaboration is key—and leading companies know that they need to bring new partners to the table. Catalyst 2030 and Resonance just released new research on how large corporates are teaming up with innovative social enterprises in creative and powerful ways to advance social and environmental impact.
To build on this work, Resonance’s Steve Schmida, spoke with three cross-sector leaders who are pioneering corporate-social enterprise partnerships:
Alexandra van der Ploeg, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at the global technology company SAP, where she is responsible for setting the global direction of CSR through strategic partnerships and programs.
Naa Akwetey, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, at mPharma, an award-winning healthcare social enterprise headquartered in Ghana and operational in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda, and Malawi. mPharma partners across pharmaceutical supply chains to expand access to affordable healthcare in Africa.
Vikas Bali, CEO of the global impact advisory Intellecap, which works to build enabling ecosystems and channel capital to create a more sustainable and equitable society. At Intellecap, Bali is focused on developing innovative business models for emerging markets across Asia and Africa.
Below are three key takeaways on how companies and social enterprises can work together to solve pressing challenges and advance corporate sustainability.
3 Takeaways on How Companies and Social Enterprises Can Work Together:
Huge value can be unlocked by making social enterprise partnerships “core business”—but there are challenges to scale.
For more than a decade, SAP has been engaging with and supporting social enterprises. But a few years ago, “We became aware of this completely new opportunity to partner with social enterprises that we’d not had on our radar yet—and that’s social procurement,” SAP’s Alexandra van der Ploeg said. Social procurement allows companies to engage social enterprises—as suppliers and service providers—directly within their existing value chains. “We were quickly convinced about the business case for social procurement, and we realized that we had an opportunity to unlock significantly higher investments for social impact than what any corporate philanthropic vehicles could do.”
The World Bank estimates that 2019 global procurement spend was at least $14 trillion. As van der Ploeg noted, directing only a small fraction of this money—which gets spent regardless—toward social enterprises and diverse suppliers would accelerate impact in ways unimaginable through traditional CSR. SAP alone has determined that, through procurement, it could channel $60 million per year to social enterprises and diverse suppliers by 2025. Across Fortune 500 companies, this number is around $25 billion.
“This is not about being philanthropic,” added van der Ploeg. “It really engages the whole of SAP’s business—including procurement, sales, product development, and CSR. It’s about doing more with the money that we are spending anyway through procurement—and making that money go further by delivering social impact as well.”
The potential is big; yet there are challenges for scale. Much needs to be done to help social enterprises build their capacity to be “corporate ready”—and for corporates to adapt systems, procurement policies, and internal incentives to better integrate social enterprises. Another challenge for companies? How to identify, verify, and connect with viable social enterprise partners. SAP is using existing tools to help create solutions: For example, the SAP Ariba Network is the largest B2B marketplace in the world, supporting nearly $3.5 trillion in transactions each year. In partnership with leading social enterprise organizations, SAP is working to use Ariba to connect corporate-ready social enterprises to other companies eager to engage in social procurement.
When done right, partnering with social enterprises offers corporations tremendous strategic value.
The value that corporations offer to social enterprises may be obvious: Access to capital, markets, consumers, research, infrastructure, and so on. “There are millions of reasons for them to partner,” said Intellecap CEO Vikas Bali. But he also offered three key reasons why corporations should invest in partnerships with social enterprises.
First, social enterprises often bring intimate, boots-on-the-ground access to the first and last mile—to the billions of people who will increasingly act as producers and consumers across global value chains. Second, social enterprises provide a pathway to innovation and invention that large, bureaucratized companies struggle to replicate. Social enterprises can pivot their models quickly; they can experiment; and this gives corporates a low-cost method to understand and solve for new consumers and markets.
“Third, and this is a little controversial, instead of access to stock market value, companies are understanding that they need access to societal value creation,” Bali said. Companies are recognizing that the market value of their business must now be measured in parallel with how valuable it is to society. “I do clearly see a trend where large corporates are saying we need to do the right thing, we need to be seen to be doing the right thing. This is not just giving away small amounts of money through CSR, it’s about being a responsible, sustainable, resource-efficient business ourselves, and thereby there is this need to partner with social or impact enterprises.”
mPharma’s Naa Akwetey added that social enterprises, which are embedded in local communities, can provide corporates with essential “perspective,” on-the-ground understanding, and market data that otherwise get buried in global value chains. mPharma, for instance, can give feedback to multinational pharmaceutical companies about patient behavior, preferences, and buying choices in specific markets and across countries. All of these insights are of particular importance given that the markets where corporations tend to have limited optics and sparse data—those in emerging economies—are often the markets where the most growth is expected in coming decades.
Partnerships between corporations and social enterprises don’t exist in a vacuum. True success often calls for an ecosystem approach.
A great idea is not enough. To grow, an enterprise needs access to capital, to talent, to markets, and to legal and technical assistance. “All of these things have to be kept in mind as large corporates start dealing with impact enterprises,” says Bali. “It’s not just buying into a great idea; it’s buying into an idea and saying we will develop the ecosystem for this idea to sustain, to flourish, to become scalable.”
Van der Ploeg noted that SAP’s social procurement programs are, at the moment, focused more on investment in capacity building than social procurement proper. SAP is taking the time to build the foundation that will make social procurement viable—for SAP, for social enterprises, for other companies, and for the ecosystem at large. Two examples of ecosystem building efforts currently underway are SAP and MovingWorld’s S-GRID Accelerator and the work of the COVID Response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs.
“This work is trying to address problems that society has not been able to solve for thousands of years, so there are no quick fixes, there are no easy solutions, and these solutions are not one-dimensional. It will require an ecosystem approach,” Bali said. “Ecosystem-building is a fine art, and lots of stakeholders need to come together to take the journey forward.”

Nairobi, April 14, 2021 : Michael Omega, Rachael Wangari and Daniel Kitwa, from Intellecap Africa coauthored the article  ‘Reimagining Agriculture in Kenya: Five Steps for Building Resilience and Food Security After a Catastrophic Year’ as part of our strategic content tie up with Next Billion.

To say that we need to reimagine the agricultural and food systems in Kenya would be an understatement. Indeed, 2020 brought an unholy trinity of crises that threatened both lives and livelihoods, and which served as a wake-up call about the fragility of the country’s agricultural sector and overall food system. First, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted practically everything that was previously considered normal. This was followed by the largest desert locust upsurge in 70 years and flash floods that affected more than three-quarters of the country — including the food-producing counties in Kenya’s Western, Rift Valley and Central provinces.

The following numbers put these three threats into perspective:

-The announcement of the country’s first COVID-19 case in March 2020 and the resultant containment measures had far-reaching effects on the flow of goods and services across the food system, straining the livelihoods of millions of urban and rural dwellers while increasing food prices for consumers. As of last September, 6.2 million Kenyans were in a food-insecure situation, with an even higher number unable to access and/or afford safe and nutritious foods.

-Desert locusts are considered the most destructive pest in the world, with an average swarm (estimated between 40-80 million locusts covering one square km) eating the same amount of food in one day as about 35,000 people. Hence, the impact of the swarm covering 2,400 square kmsand containing billion of locusts that was reported in Kenya was more than catastrophic.

-The flash floods the country experienced were only comparable to the 2016 El Niño flooding that was responsible for severe food insecurity in the country. Between March and May 2020, the floods affected more than 233,000 people, with 116,000 people displaced and 194 deaths. Further, acres of farmland were destroyed and thousands of livestock killed, while key infrastructure such as roads, bridges and schools were left in ruins.

These grim statistics remind us that it is possible for a single catastrophic event to wipe out decades of progress for communities, while multiple catastrophes can easily overwhelm entire countries. And as the world gets increasingly connected, we’ve become more vulnerable than ever before to these types of compounding crises.

THE NEED FOR RESILIENCE IN KENYAN AGRICULTURE

Kenya’s recent struggles are also a reminder that climate change is already accelerating and intensifying natural disasters. The warming climate is closely intertwined with the performance of food systems, and crises that impact these systems often disproportionately affect the vulnerable. For that reason, resilience is a goal that should not only be discussed in boardroom meetings, brainstorming sessions and keynote addresses, but rather one that should be translated into the everyday business environment in cities and villages worldwide.  Essentially, resilience should be a way of life, a lens through which policy is designed, strategy is implemented and commerce is facilitated. And the agricultural sector should be a key focus of these efforts.

Kenya, a perennial net importer of food, imported about KES 17.2 billion in December 2020 alone. For a country with an increasing population and a continued dependence on rain-fed agriculture, this spending is bound to go up if nothing is done about it. Kenya’s situation with respect to food security and its chronic dependence on imports is not unique in sub-Saharan Africa. However, its position as an economic hub in East Africa suggests that any efforts it makes toward building resilience in its food systems may offer transferable blueprints, models and pathways that can be implemented in other emerging markets and contexts. So it’s particularly valuable to explore solutions to Kenya’s current food security challenges.

The following points (in no particular order of importance) highlight some of the ways we can reimagine Kenya’s entire agricultural value chain and food system.

REIMAGINING FARM LABOR

Experts estimate the average age of the Kenyan farmer to be 61 years. In a country where 75% of the population is under 35 years, this essentially means that the sector does not attract the most productive labor assets — young workers. With older farmworkers, the risk of decreased productivity and overall output is ever-present. Further, this population is slow to adopt technology and innovation. We, therefore, need to explore policies, incentives and interventions that increase the youth’s participation in the agriculture labor force. This should be a holistic approach that includes enhancing access to technology, capital and knowledge for prospective young farmers so that the barriers for entry are not only reduced but ultimately eliminated over time.

REIMAGINING THE FOOD STORAGE INFRASTRUCTURE

For a country that loses up to 20-30% of its production post-harvest, increasing and innovating on both national- and farm-level storage should be a top priority for key stakeholders. At a national level, food reserve storage is a relatively cheap public insurance policy against the tremendous uncertainties caused by climate change for the country’s food system. However, the National Cereals and Produce Board — the national food reserve agent — has faced multiple financial and operational challenges that have led to calls for the privatization of the institution. At the farm level, the adoption of productive renewable energy in activities such as refrigeration (cold storage), drying (solar dryers) and especially milling can increase the nutritional and monetary value of farm produce, and lengthen its shelf life.

REIMAGINING AGRICULTURE POLICY

Public policy plays a key role in the agricultural sector’s prospects. Kenya’s leadership will need to explore new and ground-breaking policy frameworks that set a path toward resilience. For instance, some critical measures include: developing policies to enhance food processing; establishing “localized” (county-level) climate change action plans and climate risk policies; and expanding budgetary capacities to respond to climate-related events that impact farmers. These approaches should be developed at both the national level and at the county level where implementation happens. Continuous monitoring and progress checks should be embedded into the process flow, to ensure that momentum is not lost and transparency is maintained.

REIMAGINING AGRICULTURE FINANCING

The cost of capital remains high for farmers and aggregators, especially given the risk-averse nature of the pool of local institutional capital available. Some farmers may not have a credit history outside of their co-operatives and SACCO funding partners, thus limiting their ability to tap into the additional sources of capital that exist. Access to finance should involve creating localized startup hubs away from the big cities, so that funding networks are available to agricultural players outside the country’s metropolitan areas. (Sadly, most incubation hubs are located in Nairobi.) The challenge then becomes how to localize these networks. Working with agricultural departments and the small and medium enterprise-focused infrastructure provided by counties can be one way of directing this support to businesses at the local level. Public and private investors can also explore innovative financing solutions such as: gender lens investing targeting women farmers; crowdfunding platforms that invest in African-owned farming infrastructure; portfolio-based lending where smallholder farmers can be aggregated and their assets securitized into a sizeable financing round; and impact-linked interest rate lending models.

REIMAGINING FARMING ITSELF

Behavior change among farmers should definitely be a key focus area in Kenya’s quest to become more resilient. This involves everything from the most basic of strategies, like crop rotation, to the most complex — such as a completely mechanized end-to-end approach to agriculture. Farmers need to unlearn common but less-effective methods, so as to relearn new ones. Behavior change should also involve consumers, who need to embrace new dietary patterns above and beyond the traditional staple foods, so as to trigger the market demand that would motivate farmers’ decisions, which are ultimately driven by what the buyer wants. For instance, can public school feeding programs incorporate diet choices that incentivize new, positive farming behavior and build new agricultural value chains, such as including new types of fruit orders, or even exploring camel or goat milk instead of cattle?

CONCLUSION

While the above list is certainly not conclusive, it represents a new way of thinking and includes the critical building blocks that define what resilience really means from an agricultural point of view. Kenya’s Vision 2030 aspirations are closely aligned with the United Nations’ SDG ambitions, and food security is part of the current government’s “Big Four” agenda. But while these intentions are encouraging and praiseworthy, long-lasting progress in boosting food security and agricultural productivity and improving livelihoods for farmers and vulnerable communities will only be achieved through an action-based and resilience-focused approach. Kenya must learn from past failures, build on our successes and strive to reimagine our future. To that end, the traumatic events of 2020 were an important lesson for us: As George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Mumbai,  March 30 –Intellecap’s Sudhanshu Dikshit and Vivekandhan T co-authored an article,  “Farm Laws 2020: Efficiency Vs Equity” for India Development Review (IDR).

In the article, talking about the new farm laws, the coauthors opine that while there is agreement on the importance of improving food production and productivity, there are differing views on the ways to achieve both.

The new farm laws have become a politically contentious issue nationally, but if one were to steer clear of the political rhetoric, it becomes apparent that at the heart of the issue is the long standing efficiency vs equity debate.

Those on the efficiency side highlight the long overdue agri-sector reforms to move the sector from its stagnancy to higher levels of production and productivity. People on this side also bat for reduction of the government’s direct participation and an increased role for market forces (including more private players in agriculture).

On the other hand, those arguing for equity look at agriculture as a livelihood option for large numbers of small and marginal farmers. As a result, they oppose a reduction of the state’s role and express reservations about whether the farmers’ interests will be protected in a free market scenario.

Understanding how small and marginal farmers work

As per the Agriculture Census of 2015-16, approximately 86 percent of the farm holdings in India fall under the small and marginal category (up to two hectares). This small and marginal land holding, in turn, contributes to about 47 percent of the total agriculture land under cultivation. Looking at these figures, it is abundantly clear that small and marginal farmers’ productivity plays a critical role in improving the overall productivity of the sector.

Successive partitioning of agriculture land over generations has reduced the average size of the operational farm holdings, from an average size of 2.28 hectares in 1971 to 1.08 hectares in 2016. This small land holding is the core challenge for increasing farm productivity: The cost of producing one quintal of wheat varies drastically across different farm holding sizes.

Approximately 86 percent of the farm holdings in India fall under the small and marginal category

So, while one might argue that the productivity of a small farm holding is likely to be high because of better control on farm practices, it is important to understand that in these smallholdings, contribution of self and household labour is not monetised as a cost. There is actually an opportunity cost to this household labour; however the absence of gainful employment opportunities in rural areas makes way for this disguised unemployment.

While large and medium farmers are in a better position to leverage technology and manoeuvre economies of scale to their benefit, small and marginal farmers are unable to do either.

 Small holder farmers face challenges regarding economies of scale on farm inputs as well as outputs. In comparison with large and medium farmers, they spend more on per unit of farm inputs (seeds, fertilizer and pesticides) but experience lesser realisation on per unit of commodity sale. This disparity does not get compensated in a free market scenario wherein small holder farmers have to compete on equal footing with large and medium farmers.

Looking at the farm laws through the lens of small and marginal farmers

In this context, it becomes important to analyse the new farm laws 2020 and see how they may potentially play out for small holder farmers.

If free market forces are unleashed on an existing set of actors, the existing power dynamics will determine who gets how much

The larger intent of the farm laws is to increase private sector investment across the entire agriculture value chain. Among the laws, the contract farming act enables legal provisions for private sector to enter into contractual arrangements with farmers and improve primary production. These contract farming arrangements have the potential to leverage private investments to improve farm level infrastructure like irrigation facilities, poly houses, trellis, etc.  Improving infrastructure, along with the price assurance provisions in contract farming can provide the right incentives for small holder farmers to move away from subsistence cereal crop farming to commercial cash crop farming. This market oriented incentive for small and marginal farmers has the potential to reduce, and in certain cases, replace the existing need for support from development intervention agencies like nonprofits and government departments.

 However, the above economic argument does not factor in prevailing power dynamics among different economic actors in the current agriculture market. Practitioners with even little exposure to ground realities will appreciate that if free market forces are unleashed on an existing set of actors, the existing power dynamics among the actors will determine who gets how much. This is the fundamental premise of the equity school of thought, which has concerns regarding the protection of small holder farmers’ interests and hence they are opposed to the removal of government participation.

 The average farmers’ share in the end consumer rupee for 16 major food items is in the range of INR 28 paise to INR 78 paise

 In its publication Supply Chain Dynamics and Food Inflation in India (2019) the RBI has estimated the average farmers’ share in the end consumer rupee for 16 major food items is in the range of INR 28 paise to INR 78 paise. The report also highlighted that among factors critical for increase of farmers’ realisation, are the literacy levels and the availability of market information, as these two factors empower the farmers to negotiate better with their buyers and get a better price for their outputs. In the absence of market information and low literacy, small and marginal farmers are at a greater risk of being exploited by other market players (traders, processors etc).

 Where do we go from here?

As a country, we do have examples of market liberalisation in many sectors, the most prominent one being the economic liberalisation of the 90s. Those reforms did increase production and productivity. The private sector had championed these initiatives and they were duly aided by increased supply of credit, access to technology, and favourable government policies. As a consequence, employment opportunities increased in these sectors and the overall economy boomed. It therefore appears that as long as there is growth in market demand, micro and small producers can coexist with large producers.

But there are larger questions that we must consider-

– Is it prudent to compare the predicament of relatively well organised sectors like manufacturing to that of agriculture, which is less organised and has higher levels of disaggregated production?

– Have we exhausted all other means and is this the only route left to improve total crop production and average crop productivity?

– Have we focused on small and marginal farmers as a separate constituency in our efforts to improve food production?

In the overall efficiency vs equity debate, there is no opposing view regarding the importance of improving production and productivity to meet the future food demand in the country. However, there are differing views on the ways to achieve it. By taking a free market approach, the new farm laws have been criticised as inequitable, as they fail to account for empowering small and marginal farmers.