India Impact Report
Measuring Social Impact: Lessons from India is a new report from 60 Decibels based on phone interviews with 24,000+ Indian customers across multiple sectors including financial inclusion, agriculture and health. It evaluates the impact of the wider Indian impact ecosystem by understanding how many people have been able to access a service/product for the first time, the alternatives available, quality of life improvements, customer experience, and more. From the first impact measurement project 60 Decibels completed in 2014, we’ve honed our methodology and processes over the last decade, culminating in this report that incorporates more than 1 million data points from 2019 onwards.
Spanning 115 organisations, a diverse set of services and offerings, and standardized social performance indicators, Measuring Social Impact: Lessons from India offers broader market insights for organisations, customers, and investors. Every data point comes directly from a phone conversation with a customer/beneficiary of organisations throughout India.
The people we spoke to offer a unique window into their lived experiences, defining the impact and benefits of these services in their own words, as well as the challenges faced. In turn, this has allowed us to define metrics and measure impact based on these conversations. We hope this report empowers organisations and investors alike to continue learning from past efforts to uplift the people that matter most in India and beyond.
Key takeaways
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Wealth Distribution Gap
On average, the communities reached are slightly wealthier than the average population – only 33% of respondents lie in the bottom 60th of India’s wealth distribution.
This may be driven by the customer profile of clients; while most have a social impact focus, the products and services they offer do not proportionally reach those living in extreme poverty.
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Agriculture Sector Outperforms on First Time Access
Agriculture organizations are more likely than those from other sectors to be reaching people who had no prior access to that product/service. Nearly 8 in 10 respondents from agriculture organizations report first accessing this product or service, ahead of the 60dB India Benchmark of 67%.
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Gender Impact Differences
Women report higher impact across the board: 81% of female respondents report improved quality of life compared to 72% of males.
This difference is more pronounced within specific sectors like financial inclusion and quality jobs.
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Customer Satisfaction Challenges
Customer satisfaction is good, and still has some room for improvement. The Indian social impact ecosystem has a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 46 as reported by over 20,000 respondents across the country. A score of 50 is considered great.
Female respondents have a higher NPS compared to their male counterparts. Education and financial inclusion organizations have a higher NPS than organizations from other sectors.
Sections of the report
- Access & Alternatives: Explore how different sectors provide first-time access to essential services and whether customers have viable alternatives.
- Quality of Life: Understand how programs have impacted the quality of life of respondents across sectors, and identify the top-performing organizations.
- Customer Experience: Learn about the Net Promoter Score and challenge rates across sectors, and how unresolved challenges impact customer satisfaction.
- COVID-19 Snapshot: Get a glimpse into how COVID-19 has impacted different sectors and the financial coping mechanisms used by respondents.
- Case Studies: Learn how FarMart is using impact data to connect farmers with reliable markets and how ON India’s investment strategy focuses on the “Next Half Billion” cohort of first-time internet users.