Jun 5 2017

The moment we think about the future, and as far as 2050, imagery moves to automation, artificial intelligence, robotics, human race being super powerful, and every individual being empowered with choices. In this milieu, gender is often not considered the most exciting topic and is treated as a ‘women’s issue’. It is, however, critical that gender be brought to the forefront of public discourse, as something that impacts society as a whole.

Beyond gender roles, towards gender participation

In India, while we often hark back to mythology and culture to give evidence of the importance and dignity of women, it is a hard fact that India is failing its women today. India was ranked a lowly 108 on the WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report (2015); highlighting the need for specific and concerted efforts to achieve gender equality in the country. Women will have a major role in how the country is shaped – through public policy and business leadership.

The inclusion of women in the democratic process of shaping public policy is critical to ensure fairness and justice in the distribution of benefits and responsibilities between women and men. When more women are involved in public policy making, Governments become more open, democratic and responsive to citizens. Although India has had a woman prime minister, there continue to be grossly insufficient women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. The current Lok Sabha has just over 12% women members, against a global average of over 22%. Legislative assemblies of states in the country have, on an average, less than 10% women members. This indicates the need to encourage active participation of women in building the democratic capital of the country. A start has already been made in this direction. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments mandate a reservation of 33% seats in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the country. As a consequence, today, close to 50% of elected representatives in PRIs are women. Numerically, that amounts to more elected women representatives than the rest of the world put together. It is only a matter of a couple of decades that India will have over 40% women members in Lok Sabha and state legislative agencies. This bodes well for the role of women in the future of Indian democracy, and indeed, for Indian democracy itself.

May 29 2017

Collateral Medical, a pan-India online distributor of medical devices, has raised $3.5 million in Series A investment from small and medium enterprises focused private equity fund Carpediem Capital.

The funds will be used to strengthen its distribution capabilities, expanding the service network and strengthening the IT infrastructure. Intellecap’s Investment Banking Group has advised Collateral Medical on the deal.

“It has been wonderful developing a platform to serve doctors, standalone clinics and small hospitals who struggle to source medical devices. The fund infusion will help us improve and enhance our capabilities to serve medical community better and we are excited to have Carpediem Capital join us as trusted partners in our journey for the next level of growth,” Nikhilesh Tiwari, Founder and CEO, Collateral Medical, said.

“With the focus of ensuring reasonable pricing, we helped thousands of doctors in 400 plus districts in 28 states to bring their cost down,” Sanjay Jha, Director, Collateral Medical, added.

Gagandeep Bakshi, Head, Investment Banking, Intellecap, said: “Collateral Medical has created a capital efficient distribution model that has resulted in price transparency and efficient outreach in Tier II and III cities. They have also managed customer stickiness and retention by providing after sales service. They are one of the only players in the market addressing the pain points of both suppliers and customers.”

May 29 2017

Collateral Medical Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based online distributor of medical devices, has raised $3.5 million in Series A round from India-focussed private-equity firm Carpediem Capital.

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May 29 2017

Mumbai-based healthtech startup Collateral Medical has secured $3.5 Mn its Series A round of funding from PE fund, Carpediem Capital. Intellecap’s Investment Banking Group acted as advisors for the deal.

The startup will deploy the raised funds towards scaling distribution capabilities, expansion of its service network, and further enhancing IT infrastructure.

Founded in 2010 by Nikhilesh Tiwari, the company is an online marketplace for medical products, equipments, and other raw materials. It focusses on supplying medical devices for doctors, clinics, and small and medium hospitals across Tier II and III cities in the country.

Nikhilesh Tiwari, founder and CEO, Collateral Medical said, “The fund infusion will help us improve and enhance our capabilities to serve medical community better and we are excited to have Carpediem Capital join us as trusted partners in our journey for the next level of growth.”

May 29 2017

Online medical devices distributor Collateral Medical has raised $3.5 million in a Series A investment from Carpediem Capital. The funds will be used to strengthen the company’s distribution capabilities and IT infrastructure as well as expand its service network.

Intellecap’s Investment Banking Group was advisor to the deal, Intellecap said in a statement.

Gagandeep Bakshi, Head, Investment Banking, Intellecap said, “Collateral Medical has created a capital efficient distribution model that has resulted in price transparency and efficient outreach in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. They have also managed customer stickiness and retention by providing after sales service. They are one of the few players in the market addressing the pain points of both suppliers and customers.”

Collateral Medical, one of the leading medical devices marketing and distribution companies, essentially caters to doctors, clinics, and small and medium private hospitals in tier-2 and tier-3 cities in the country.

Commenting on the investment, Nikhilesh Tiwari, Founder and CEO, Collateral Medical, said,

May 29 2017

Online medical devices distributor Collateral Medical has raised $3.5 million (around Rs 22.5 crore) in its Series A funding round from homegrown private equity firm Carpediem Advisors Pvt. Ltd.

Collateral Medical will use the funds to strengthen its distribution capabilities, expand service network and upgrade IT, the Mumbai-based firm said in a statement.

“The fund infusion will help us improve and enhance our capabilities to serve the medical community better,” said Nikhilesh Tiwari, founder and CEO, Collateral Medical.

VCCircle first reported last week that Carpediem Capital was all set to make its debut investment in the healthcare sector.

May 20 2017

At a recent digital banking conference in Africa, I was asked if fintech is sustainable. The response was simple – fintech is not singular. It is an amalgamation of multiple digital financial services trends across regions, and across payments, lending, and banking

The question is which of these are solving a real problem vs those solving a perceived problem. There are a few trends out here that I like, which are solving real issues, which will sustain, and merge with the overall financial services ecosystem:

Disintermediation of the lending value chain – Banks would traditionally source, acquire, underwrite, onboard, collect and service customers. Most would do some parts well, and a few parts not so well. This is increasingly now being solved by the entry of new ‘customer owning’ entities into the game, who will acquire, owners of data who can underwrite, and the lenders who can lend and collect. This makes partnerships key.

However, the cost of acquisition, collections and data partnerships is turning out to be quite prohibitive (upto 6-8% in some cases), especially in telco-dominated markets, for example Kenya, which is driving the fintech business models towards non-feasibility.

May 18 2017

In 2050, India will achieve reliable, economically competitive and environmentally sustainable electricity system, addressing the energy security and environmental strains.

In past few years, India has achieved an impressive growth in adding renewable energy generation. Efforts have been made to alleviate the long standing problems like power shortages, rural electrifications, poor distribution companies (Discom) financial health and non performing energy assets through various policy interventions. However the current penetration of renewable energy is low about 15% of total energy supply. The energy supply spectrum largely entails coal (about 50%) followed by oil and gas. It is envisaged that in 2050, India will have an annual energy demand of about 14,500 TWh per year (with a moderate CAGR of 6.7% till 2050). Largely the demand will be from industry sector followed by transportation and buildings. In the absence of paradigm shift towards the low carbon alternatives, the dependence on fossil fuel will increase, causing a serious threat to nation’s energy security and GHG emissions in future.

With determined efforts by the policy makers, India can overcome barriers to enable investment in clean and sustainable energy supply options. In 2050, India will achieve reliable, economically competitive and environmentally sustainable electricity system, addressing the energy security and environmental strains. A couple of trends under current energy sector reforms are converging to create game-changing disruptions like electrification of large energy intensive sectors coupled with accelerated renewable energy capacity addition, parallel efforts to strengthen electricity supply to underserved and un-served through integration of grid and distributed renewable energy, adoption of emerging storage technologies to increase the grid appetite to accommodate intermittent sources and enabling cost optimization through the best use of automation and communication analytics.

Electrification of large energy intensive sectors coupled with accelerated RE capacity addition

Clean energy is India’s top priority to meet the global commitment under INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contribution) to meet the target of reducing GDP emission intensity by 35%. The reduction is to be made by 2030 considering 2005 as a base data. With an aggressive chase of INDC targets on renewable energy capacity addition, India can have more than 50% of electricity generated from renewable source, leading the global renewable energy generation in 2050. India is eyeing towards massive electrification of its energy intensive sectors, the majority of which in 2050 will be seen to be supplied from renewable sources like solar and wind. Ongoing efforts towards greening the passenger & freight transportation by railways and an ambitious plan to electrify the entire road transportation by 2030, indicates that the second most energy intensive sector- Transportation is targeted. A mammoth pipeline is to be built in coming years to reach the target of 100GW by 2022.

Apr 20 2017

“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

In 2050 we can visualize a large population enjoying an amazing quality of life with access to such services and privileges as are not accessible even to the urban middle class of today. Higher income levels, universal access to quality education, healthcare, safe drinking water and sanitation services shall characterize rural India in 2050. Women’s participation levels in India’s workforce shall be rivaling that of the men with all discrimination based on region, caste, community, ethnicity, gender, age and disabilities being minimized. The optimism for future stems not only owing to the rate at which the technology is evolving and is being adopted by the masses but also owing to the changing attitudes of the new generation towards “holistic development for all”.

Demographically a large proportion of population may migrate to urban India by 2050; however about 850 million people will continue to reside in rural India.

Despite a view that India is rapidly urbanizing, it will have just half of its population in cities even in 2050. By 2050, India will still be one of the least urbanized countries in the world. It’s likely that the simplicity of life, improvement of income levels and availability of basic services may significantly improve the quality of rural life in India.

Farm and non-farm rural households are likely to improve their incomes and reduce their vulnerabilities significantly by 2050.

The per capita income for urban India in 2011-12 was INR 1, 01,313, whereas for rural India it was only INR 40,772.

However in 2050 rural India is likely to have significantly higher incomes. This will largely be driven by a quantum leap in the cropping intensity, riding on almost all the arable land coming under irrigation. For instance, the gross irrigated area is expected to increase from 76 million hectare in 2000 to 117 million hectares by 2050. Besides, the vulnerabilities arising out of climate change will have become a non-issue with universalization of crop insurance across rural India. The core value chains will have completely integrated vertically, performing at the highest level of efficiency, aided by world class infrastructure, resulting in smooth access to markets. Non-farming rural households too shall be experiencing buoyancy in their incomes aided by a burgeoning demand for services and non-farm goods. The rural population shall have access to social security owing to the entire workforce being a part of the formal sector and high level of financial inclusion among the rural population leading to access to life insurance, health insurance, insurance cover against accidents, pension services and credit for both consumption and production purposes. The expected increase in per capita income for India to over INR 26 lakhs (USD 40,000) will also reflect in rural incomes.

Apr 19 2017

Woman entrepreneur no longer elicits surprise or curiosity in India. Many women entrepreneurs are driven by a desire to do good work, realise their dreams and prove their detractors wrong, rather than just make money.

The glass ceilings are shattered and women are found indulged in every line of business. The entry of women into business in India is traced out as an extension of their kitchen activities, mainly 3P‘s, Pickle, Powder and Pappad. But with the spread of education and passage of time women started shifting from 3P‘s to modern 3E‘s i.e., Energy, Electronics and Engineering.

One of the biggest hurdle facing the social and moral fabric of women entrepreneurs in India is Lack of awareness about the financial assistance in the form of incentives, loans, schemes etc. by the institutions in the financial sector. So the sincere efforts taken towards women entrepreneurs may not reach the entrepreneurs in rural and backward areas.

Well one of the possible solution to overcome this big problem is by provision of micro credit system and enterprise credit system to the women entrepreneurs at local level. One of the key players moving up the charts on this front is CashSuvidha – An SME firm providing hassle free loans to people in a super quick time and at competitive rates of interest.

CashSuvidha helps women entrepreneur to raise un-secured business loans of up to Rs 3 Lakhs and then secured loans upto 10 lakhs. In both the Rural & Urban areas, they are providing loans of upto Rs 50,000 for small businesses or any type of income generation activities. They have also joined hands with Intellecap Advisory Service Pvt. Ltd to support access to finance for Women Entrepreneurship as a part of the Creditree project.

This will be a growth- propelling step towards developing financially stability in the unorganised sector of Women Entrepreneurship, and will encourage more and more women to step out and make the best possible use of this space with all the resources.