The Promise Of Impact Investing in India: Brookings India Report 2019

April 17, 2020April 28, 2020 Arjun Veer Chadha

Achieving the ambitious sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030
will take an estimated $5 to $7 trillion per year, with a financing gap of $2.5
trillion in developing countries. In India alone, the outsize challenge has been translated into a financing gap of $565 billion.

The main findings, of the Brookings India Report 2019, (Download Here: The-promise-of-impact-investing-in-India) show how the Indian impact investment story is continuously evolving and changing. Impact investments are shifting from financial access, micro-finance and energy towards traditional philanthropic sectors such as health, education and agriculture. Average returns beat market returns, even in sectors which are traditionally social sectors with low returns.

As per the overarching insights from the findings in the Brookings India Report 2019, impact investors are playing hybrid roles, somewhere between private equity (PE) investors and accelerator/incubator style mentors. And find a strong focus on tech-based investments to achieve scale and reach. We find impact to be defined loosely and a lack of cohesion on measures and indicators at a sectorial and investment level. And a need to build an evidence-backed knowledge base for innovative financing and impact bonds.

Source: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/The-promise-of-impact-investing-in-India.pdf