Socio-economic mobility for India’s informal workers
Cohorts
ASPIRATIONAL YOUTH
E-RICKSHAW DRIVERS
MIGRANT WORKERS
Our focus groups comprise sectors that are considered unviable by most financial institutions due to lack of standardised underwriting protocols or well-defined risk-return profiles.
ARTISANS
SELF-EMPLOYED WORKERS
Access to fit-for-purpose debt
Interventions
Migration Loan
Ticket, housing, kharch, rental deposit
Working Capital Loan
Working capital needs for order fulfilment, seasonality in demand
Asset
Financing Loan
Financing purchase of e-rickshaw & ancillary needs (batteries)
Skilling Loan
Short-term courses for plumbing, electrician training, tailoring
1
The Platform collaborates with lenders (NBFCs/FinTechs) to develop customised loan products for the five target cohorts as per their credit requirements.
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Lenders leverage concessional and/or de-risking capital offered by the Platform to disburse credit to underserved borrowers.
Term Loan
Loans for business operations and expansion
2
Fostering social security access
In collaboration with Haqdarshak, the platform enables access to social security schemes. Haqdarshak assists users (regardless of credit eligibility) to procure formal documentation, register under relevant schemes or open new bank accounts to facilitate availing scheme benefits.
Platform design
The Platform brings together a consortium of service providers, lenders & donors that will together develop and deploy systemic financial solutions. The Platform is structured as a blended finance facility that leverages blended finance mechanisms, such as first-loss default guarantees, via philanthropic donors and social investors.
Empowering
informal workers
Financial Inclusion
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Enhance financial literacy
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Mitigate default risk with diverse cohorts
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Use blended finance for innovative debt products
Economic Mobility
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Enable credit for vocational training & entrepreneurship
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Generate data for credit underwriting of informal workers
Social Protection
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Raise awareness and provide tools for government social security access
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Assist with formal documentation and enrolment in government schemes
Our Story
The Platform builds on learnings from KOIS’ Labour Dignity Bond
In 2021, KOIS set up a first-of-its-kind, the Labour Dignity Bond, a working capital facility to pool in concessional debt from private investors to incentivise construction micro-contractors (MCs) towards ethical treatment of workers. The facility was structured with funding from The Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS), and with Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) and Acumen as first loss guarantors.
In collaboration with LabourNet, Gromor, Haqdarshak and Sattva Consulting, the program went live in Delhi and Bengaluru across multiple construction sites.