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Indian Express
05-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Govt should greenlight CSR spending on tech innovation: Sumit Tayal, CEO, Give
Sumit Tayal is the CEO of Give, a digital-first platform that helps Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) teams at companies and individual donors give to non-profits in India. Give, via its Give Grants division, connects institutional donors, companies, and foundations with non-profits, while connects individual small donors with non-profits. Give Discover provides credible information on all stakeholders in the CSR and non-profit ecosystem. Sumit was earlier the COO of Netscribes, a global data and insights firmPrior to it, he was the director at Helix Investments, an India-focussed private equity fund. Sumit is an engineering graduate from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, and an MBA from IIM Bangalore. Sumit spoke to on the challenges companies face in spending their CSR funds on tech innovation, the state of the CSR system in India, and what the government could do to change the situation. Edited excerpts: Sumit Tayal: There are 27,000 companies that file for CSR in India. There are around 200 companies at the top end of the CSR ecosystem whose spending is around Rs 15,000 crore, which is around 50 per cent of the total CSR spending in India. I estimate that somewhere around 20 per cent of them would be utilising tech platforms to manage, track, and monitor their projects. A lot of work still happens through email and Excel sheets. Another 20 per cent would be using a patchwork of tech systems, using them for finance, procurement, or other functions. The next 800 companies in the top 1000 use a bare modicum of tech. You might get the impression that 40% of the top 200 use tech in at least some form. But then, what are they using? They are perhaps using some kind of project management software. So, they are using tech platforms for CSR fund allocation or monitoring, and not necessarily for driving innovation. We at Give have set benchmarks in the ecosystem in many ways, especially to make giving simple and trustworthy. We have built systems and processes to do due diligence on non-profits and only then onboard them on our platform. We also check if the work that was intended is happening on the ground. There are two parts, one for individual donors to donate to causes that they are passionate about, and for corporates to deploy their CSR funds effectively. For instance, last year, around one lakh online donors donated to around 600 non-profits through our platform. All these donors found us online. Our processes are tech-driven. It is like an online consumer-facing platform, and the entire crowdfunding cycle is fully automated, from how non-profits get onboarded to how campaigns are created, shared, and promoted across social media and online platforms. Our interactions with non-profits are, however, offline and will continue to be so. There will always be an offline part, as finally, what we are working for is creating an impact on the ground, where we reach out to hundreds of non-profits individually every year to collect data on how the money was used. There are impact reports. A lot of that collection may be digital, but it still has high manual effort because a large majority of non-profits who are operating on the platform are relatively small without tech support. Sumit Tayal: We started the reports last year, and it is now an annual feature. In 2024, India completed ten years of CSR. It is the only country in the world that has made legally mandated CSR work on this scale. So, it was a milestone year and was completely missing from the popular narrative around CSR. Last year, we spoke to companies about CSR spending, and this year, the survey team also interacted with non-profits that are the implementers of CSR. The key takeaways of the report are that CSR is the dominant source of money in the Indian giving space, and it will only become more dominant in the years to come as it is tied to corporate profits. Secondly, more than half of all Indian non-profits now derive more than half of their total annual budgets from CSR. So, this is the largest force shaping the private giving scenario in India. Thirdly, all Indian CSR is merely one per cent of the Indian government's social spending. Not the government's total budget, but the government's social spending. So, it is too much to expect that CSR alone can make wonders. Importantly, in the report, we have asked corporates about how they view spending on tech innovation, and we have some interesting insights. We found that CSR is highly regulated and compliance-heavy; therefore, risk appetite is low. Even today, the CSR law holds directors individually responsible for any errors, omissions, non-compliance, and so on. So, CSR leaders must be very cognisant of compliance and cannot take bold calls beyond a point. Tech innovation is risky and hence a low priority. Corporates don't want to be in a situation where they are sitting on a bunch of tech projects that have not delivered any results. Delivery is key in the CSR system. Because that's how success is viewed. CSRs prefer to fund programmes that have some proof of concept already established. They are willing to scale what works. They are not the venture capitalists or the angel funders. It is not that CSR leaders do not want to experiment, but the acceptability of risky projects at the board level and their likely negative impact on compliance weighs on their minds. Sumit Tayal: The top 200 corporates are collectively spending Rs 15,000 crore on CSR. If you look at the number of companies that may be funding tech innovation in some way, it is our guesstimate that 30% of these (around 60 companies with an aggregate spending of Rs 4,500 crore annually) collectively spend around Rs 250 crore on tech innovation. Companies have focused on funding startup incubators and accelerators at colleges and universities, academic research, and some of them might be funding some early pilot tech innovation work. But in their individual portfolios, it is unlikely that funding for tech innovation will be more than five per cent of their total spend. So, for tech innovation, particularly for tech for social impact, it could be around Rs 250 crore. These are broad estimates. There is a high acceptance of funding government-approved incubators and accelerators, and the reason for that is that the CSR law explicitly says that funding for these incubators and accelerators is eligible under the CSR law. What it does is it allows the corporates to work with reputed institutes like IIMs or IITs. They also fund academic research being done by credible institutes. So, BITS Pilani or the IITs are all now able to access CSR funding. The third aspect that gets funded is if the company is already working with a non-profit, they are open to funding tech pilots being done by existing partners. For example, there is Sneha, a non-profit working on maternal and childcare in urban slums in Maharashtra. They invested in a WhatsApp bot-based solution for their field force to connect with their beneficiaries and give them relevant and timely information as required. So, corporates who had funded Sneha in the past are open to funding their tech innovations now, but a new funder would not be keen on such tech-centric projects. Sumit Tayal: There are no regulatory hurdles; there are only perception hurdles, if any. Nothing in the CSR law says that you cannot fund an early-stage tech pilot. The government, to the best of my understanding, has absolutely no problem if you fund innovation, which may result in learning, but not a specific output. Nowhere in the CSR law is there any provision that says that if your output is less than expected, that is non-compliance. They want funds to be allocated and spent or utilised in a timely manner. CSR committees and decision makers understandably don't want to take on high-risk, uncertain bets when there are more time-tested, steady, and predictable projects. They see tech innovation spending as high risk. Since the government has clarified that funding for incubators and accelerators from CSR funds are welcome, that funds have flown into this sector. Many tech majors today fund these accelerators. Tech education is a different ball game. Google, Microsoft, Capgemini, Infosys, Wipro, TCS, every large company in India is focused on either AI skilling or STEM education, as part of their CSR spending. Sumit Tayal: There are a few where CSR has funded the development and/or deployment of tech-first solutions. One of them is WhatsApp-based chatbots. They are increasingly finding their way into education, healthcare, and livelihood interventions. The typical case is where a non-profit needs to be in touch with their communities remotely and needs to provide targeted information. The second one is platforms like MindSpark by Educational Initiatives, for adaptive learning. Its programmes help children bridge the learning gap. For example, when a child is in grade four, but their learning level is at grade one, how do we help them catch up over time at their own pace? While MindSpark has been deployed in international schools, it is also in government schools and low-income schools with CSR funding. Alstom, the energy major, has picked up the theme of sustainable mobility. They are very open to funding non-profits and for-profit social enterprises, whoever is innovating in the theme of sustainable mobility. Some corporations fund tech for impact initiatives in their areas of interest and operations, but this is not huge. Sumit Tayal: The tipping point would come when the government indicates that it is keen that the corporate sector should look at tech innovation or tech for social impact in a positive manner. It could also happen when the board at a large corporate house shows enthusiasm for tech innovation with CSR funds in the same way it is excited about the use of technology in its business operations. Indian companies are amongst the best-placed players when it comes to innovation in their search for new products and markets. The day that appetite is transferred to the CSR sector, and when the fear of failure subsides, we will see a lot of tech for good projects coming up in the social sector, which will impact communities in a positive way. The Piramal Foundation is a good example. It may not be something specific to tech, but it is relevant here. They spent years running pilots in tribal communities before they were able to fine-tune their model on what works. And today, they do not hesitate to acknowledge that they had failed for years, but got it right finally. That kind of messaging is what gives comfort. Sumit Tayal: The government needs to clarify that it is keen that CSR funds go to fund tech innovation in the tech for social impact space. Such a signaling would be of the greatest help.
Economic Times
17-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
HealthQuad targets raising $300 million third fund to back healthcare tech startups
ETtech (L-R) Sunil Thakur, Abrar Mir and Amit Varma, cofounders, HealthQuad Healthcare venture capital firm HealthQuad is raising $300 million (Rs 2,527.5 crore) for its third India-focussed fund. The firm, backed by Quadria Capital, an Asia-focussed private equity fund specialising in healthcare, plans a corpus of $200 million with an additional $100 million greenshoe option to fund healthcare enterprise innovation startups in India. Founded in 2016 under the Quadria Group, HealthQuad has focussed on backing tech-enabled healthcare models at the early-growth firm's first two funds backed over 18 companies, including Medikabazaar, THB, Wysa, Ekincare, Redcliffe Labs, GoApptiv, and Strand Life Sciences. This announcement comes in the wake of a split between HealthQuad's leadership team and Kois, the Belgian firm that co-founded HealthQuad alongside Quadria Capital. Following the departure of a general partner, the individual has launched a new healthcare venture capital fund of similar size, named HealthKois. 'We continue to own funds I and II fully under Quadria,' Sunil Thakur, cofounder and investment committee member at HealthQuad, told ET. The new fund will focus on companies solving operational challenges for hospital chains. "We are looking to fund 13-15 companies in this fund," said fund will tap into Quadria Group's extensive Asia network and institutional relationships to drive growth in portfolio company Quadria Capital recently raised $1.07 billion for its third fund, demonstrating strong investor appetite for the group's strategy.
Time of India
17-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
HealthQuad raises $300 million for third India-focussed healthcare fund
Healthcare venture capital firm HealthQuad is raising $300 million (Rs 2,527.5 crore) for its third India-focussed fund. The firm, backed by Quadria Capital , an Asia-focussed private equity fund specialising in healthcare, plans a corpus of $200 million with an additional $100 million greenshoe option to fund healthcare enterprise innovation startups in India. Founded in 2016 under the Quadria Group, HealthQuad has focussed on backing tech-enabled healthcare models at the early-growth stage. The firm's first two funds backed over 18 companies, including Medikabazaar, THB, Wysa, Ekincare, Redcliffe Labs, GoApptiv, and Strand Life Sciences. This announcement comes in the wake of a split between HealthQuad's leadership team and Kois, the Belgian firm that co-founded HealthQuad alongside Quadria Capital. Following the departure of a general partner, the individual has launched a new healthcare venture capital fund of similar size, named HealthKois . 'We continue to own funds I and II fully under Quadria,' Sunil Thakur, cofounder and investment committee member at HealthQuad, told ET. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories The new fund will focus on companies solving operational challenges for hospital chains. "We are looking to fund 13-15 companies in this fund," said Thakur. The fund will tap into Quadria Group's extensive Asia network and institutional relationships to drive growth in portfolio companies. Parent company Quadria Capital recently raised $1.07 billion for its third fund, demonstrating strong investor appetite for the group's strategy.
Indian Express
07-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
‘See huge blue ocean opportunity in India for regional jets, perfect fit between turboprops, larger planes': Raul Villaron
Hitherto a small player in India's aviation landscape, Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer has its sights set on India as its next growth market—for commercial as well as defence aircraft. The company is already in the running for the Indian Air Force's (IAF) medium transport aircraft procurement project, and is also pitching its portfolio of regional commercial jets—a segment yet to take off in India—to fast-expanding Indian airlines. As part of the effort to capitalise on the opportunity, Embraer recently announced an India-focussed subsidiary. In a freewheeling interaction with Sukalp Sharma, Embraer's President and Group CEO Francisco Gomes Neto and Embraer Commercial Aviation's Head of Asia-Pacific Raul Villaron discuss the company's India ambitions and vision, including the possibility of local manufacturing. Edited excerpts: The Embraer C390 is seen as a frontrunner for the IAF's medium transport aircraft procurement project. How confident are you about winning the contract? How does the C390 stack up against competing aircraft like Lockheed Martin C130? Neto: We are convinced that the C390 is the best solution for the Indian Air Force. If you look at the last orders we got for C390—Portugal, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria—most of them replaced the C130 with the C390 because our aircraft is more modern, faster, and carries more load. It's multi-mission by design, it is more flexible. With the C390, you can perform the same missions with less aircraft. At what stage are your conversations with the IAF and the government? When do you expect a decision? Neto: I think we're moving well. They are learning more and more about the features of our aircraft, and we believe we have a good chance, although nothing is decided…We expect a decision in a couple of years. But this is not in our hands. This is more in the hands of the Indian Air Force. If you get the IAF contract, you will be setting up an FAL (final assembly line) to build the aircraft in India. Are you also open to having an FAL here for your commercial jets as well? Neto: Everything depends on the size of the order. In the case of a C390, the expectation is to have a deal for 40 to 80 aircraft, which is a lot for that size of aircraft. If the orders (for commercial aircraft) are large enough, it would be possible for us…We are bringing a procurement team already to India because we want to explore a supply chain, even without selling many commercial jets here. We already want to find component suppliers here for aircraft to be sold in other markets. Coming to commercial aircraft, Embraer specialises in regional or small narrow-body planes. This segment did not take off in India, even as the country emerged as a massive market for larger aircraft. What is Embraer's view on the India opportunity in the segment? Villaron: We see a huge blue ocean opportunity in India, where most of the unserved markets are either too long for turboprops or too thin for (typical) narrow-bodies. We see a potential for 300 (small narrow-body) aircraft in the next 10 years, and 500 aircraft in the next 20 years in India. Historically, Indian airlines either ordered turboprops or larger narrow-bodies. We feel turboprops now have a mature network in India and there aren't many growth opportunities left. It's limiting the airlines' ability to expand regional networks because the (turboprops') range doesn't let them go beyond the short sectors. Also, with improvement in India's roads and airport infrastructure, the benefits of turboprops are eroding with time. Meanwhile, the regular narrow-bodies are upgauging (getting bigger). So, the gap between a turboprop and a typical narrow-body is widening and is becoming difficult to bridge. You want to replace a 70-seater (turboprop) due to higher demand, but a 180-seater (regular narrow-body jet like Airbus A320 and Boeing 737) has more seats (than needed). But a small narrow-body like ours—up to 146 seats—fits perfectly in that gap. Why couldn't Embraer break into India's commercial aviation market? Villaron: Embraer didn't have a strong penetration in India compared to the US, Europe, and some other markets, as our earlier E1 (series) aircraft's main value proposition was trip cost, while the seat cost was higher, which did not suit a country like India where yields are very low. But our new E2 (family of aircraft) comes with more seats, and its seat cost is very competitive—same as larger narrow-body planes—while the trip cost is still 20-25 per cent lower than theirs. Are you in active discussions with Indian airlines for your E2 aircraft? Villaron: Yes. Our main partner in India is (regional airline) Star Air (with five previous generation Embraer regional jets), and they have announced their plans to expand their fleet. So, we are talking to them to understand their needs. They took delivery of another Embraer aircraft just a month ago. The business plan and the opportunity that we see for the airline is interesting, so we are talking to them. What about major Indian airlines that are predominantly in larger narrow-body operations? Villaron: As good salespeople, we talk to everyone. We want to present these opportunities that are so clear to us. We want to make sure the airlines visualise that as well. The big ones (IndiGo, Air India, etc), I think are busy with the large aircraft orders they have placed and the expansion internationally. But they also recognise there is a need to work on the regional network. IndiGo has a turboprop fleet, which at a certain point will need to be replaced and we believe that jets are going to be the next phase of the regional network expansion in India. As for Air India, their main competitor (IndiGo) has a regional network, while they don't. So, I believe they would need to look at these opportunities. We are the leaders in the regional segment, so we are confident that we will be considered. Airbus, which has a significant presence in India, also has a small narrow-body product, A220. What is your pitch to the airlines for your E2 portfolio—E190-E2 and E195-E2—vis-à-vis the A220? Villaron: If we do a nose-to-nose aircraft comparison, the E2 is much more efficient. It's about 10 per cent cheaper to operate due to lower fuel burn. It's a much lighter aircraft, has a higher-aspect-ratio wing with better aerodynamics. It has a longer interval, so maintenance cost is lower. We use a similar engine as the A220 but because our aircraft is lighter, it stays longer on the wing…We are confident that even though our competitor is strong in India, when you compare the two aircraft, our product is better. Also, if you're looking for something that really complements the gap in India's fleet, you need to buy something from the gap, not something that's almost as big as the thing you're not looking for. The A220, with around 160 seats, is very close to a (regular) narrow-body that has 180 seats. Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Fintechs lose loan steam; Google's AI platform shift
Fintechs lose loan steam; Google's AI platform shift Also in the letter: Listed fintechs feel the pinch of lenders going slow on unsecured lending Measuring the impact: Paytm parent One97 Communications saw personal loan disbursals drop to Rs 1,422 crore, down from Rs 1,746 crore in the December quarter. Mobikwik's revenue from financial services fell 28% to Rs 402 crore in FY25, compared to Rs 558 crore a year earlier. Paisabazaar distributed only 517,000 credit cards, one of its key products, compared to 583,000 a year back. Tell me why: Impact on biz: Unsecured consumer loans scaled rapidly, offering quick growth for valuation-hungry fintechs. Some players have come under pressure on contribution margins. Fintechs are doubling down on their core payments businesses to extract maximum value. To reignite growth, many are now shifting focus to secured lending, offering products like loans against property, gold loans, home loans, and others. Sundar Pichai sees platform shift as AI brings tech research to life New launches: Google on Tuesday rolled out AI-powered search in the US, featuring advanced reasoning capabilities An updated version of Gemini 2.5 Flash will be available from June, announced Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind Technologies. Pichai also confirmed that Google will expand Gemini to over 200 countries and territories. Google's AI bet: Committed $75 billion to building AI data centres Integrated AI across its entire suite of products and services Quote, unquote: Sponsor ETtech Top 5 & Morning Dispatch! Why it matters: The opportunity: Reach a highly engaged audience of decision-makers. Boost your brand's visibility among the tech-savvy community. Custom sponsorship options to align with your brand's goals. What's next: Other Top Stories By Our Reporters Mid-tier IT poised to win big AI market share, says Sonata CEO: Nazara Technologies buys game publisher Curve Games: Former partners target raising Rs 250 crore corpus with early-stage fund: Global Picks We Are Reading Happy Wednesday! Digital lenders bore the brunt of the unsecured lending slowdown last fiscal. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.■ Changing AI market paradigm■ Nazara's latest buy■ 247VC unveils its India-focussed fundA sharp slowdown in unsecured loan disbursals by banks and non-banking finance companies has weighed on the FY25 performance of listed fintech financial institutions are treading cautiously in the unsecured personal loan segment. Rising defaults and the RBI's hawkish stance on consumer lending have made them wary of fintech partnerships. Instead, banks are now looking to leverage fintechs for their technology infrastructure rather than loan Pichai, CEO, GoogleArtificial intelligence (AI) has 'brought decades of research within reach of people , businesses and communities around the globe', said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, at the Google I/O developers' its competitors, Google has been investing significantly in AI. It has:"In our biggest markets, like the US and India, AI overviews are driving over 10% growth in the types of queries that show them. And what's particularly exciting is how this growth increases over time. It's one of the most successful launches in search in the past decade," said Top 5 and Morning Dispatch are must-reads for India's tech and business leaders, including startup founders, investors, policy makers, industry insiders and Reach out to us at spotlightpartner@ to explore sponsorship Dhir, CEO, Sonata SoftwareMid-tier software service companies are emerging as alternatives for their fatigued large-cap peers to accelerate modernisation and artificial intelligence (AI) projects, said Samir Dhir, chief executive officer at Sonata Technologies has acquired UK-based PC and console game publisher Curve Games for Rs 247 crore, marking its biggest international acquisition to venture capital (VC) firm 247VC, founded by former cofounders Yagnesh Sanghrajka and Shashank Randev has launched its first India-focused fund with a base corpus of Rs 200 crore and a green shoe option of Rs 50 crore.■ A billion streams and no fans': Inside a $10 million AI music fraud case ( Wired ■ What it's like to interview for a job at DOGE ( Wired ■ How phony job ads on Facebook and Telegram lure tech workers to scam compounds ( Rest of World
