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.

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.

OUR PARTNERS

Empowering
informal workers

Financial Inclusion

Enhance financial literacy
Mitigate default risk with diverse cohorts
Use blended finance for innovative debt products

Economic Mobility

Enable credit for vocational training & entrepreneurship
Generate data for credit underwriting of informal workers

Social Protection

Raise awareness and provide tools for government social security access
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.