Profitability Through Socio-Economic Impact Must be Prioritised : Nitin Gadkari at Prabhav

The third edition of Prabhav – the flagship bi-yearly impact investment summit, commenced as an online event. Organised by India Impact Council – India’s sole impact investment association, the Summit’s inaugural day witnessed more than 400+ participants comprising of investors, impact funds, businesses, research, academia, and HNIs/ Family offices - from more than 17 countries. Nitin Gadkari, Hon. Minister of Roads Transport and Highways, MSMEs, Government of India, and Manoj Mittal, Deputy. MD, SIDBI, were the keynote speakers on an inaugural day. The welcome address at the event was made by Siddharth Nautiyal, Partner, Omidyar Network India & Chairman – IIC.

Addressing the inaugural session, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon. Minister of Road Transport and Highways, MSMEs, Government of India, said, “These are difficult times which demands us to fight not only the economic downturn but also COVID. We are confident that we will win both the fights. However, these times demand more empathy from businesses and investors – not only in empowering those who have been adversely impacted economically; but at the same time opt for a collaborative route to sustain these initiatives by involving smaller businesses, MSMEs, research and academic institutions through technology and knowledge. The need of the hour is to focus on profitability through socio-economic impact creation.”

Presenting the keynote, Shri Manoj Mittal, Deputy Managing Director, SIDBI, said, “India’s micro finance sector was India’ first tryst with large scale impact investing. Its success has brought impact investment to the forefront. In the last decade, the narrative of impact investing has evolved from being one backed by Development Financial Institutions and philanthropic foundations to one that attracts private sector participation and investments. The confidence of the private sector in this sector has is moving impact investing to the next orbit. The next step is to implement the Social Impact Stock Exchange, which would further democratize impact investing and offer affordable access to patient capital to the whole ecosystem. We are excited about what the future holds.”

The inaugural day of the Summit also witnessed  discussions with marquee international investors such as Roopa Kudva at Omidyar Network India, Anita George of CDPQ, Srini Nagarajan of CDC, Japp Reinking from FMO Netherlands, as well as leading domestic family office/HNI investors like Sanjeev Bikchandani from Info-Edge and Padmini Somani from the Narotam Sekhsaria family office, among others.

The first day’s fireside chats focused on three areas – International perspective on Impact investing (the global CEO panel), The past, present and future of impact investing (India focused investor-fund manager panel) and Unlocking domestic capital (The HNI/ Family Offices panel).

Speaking at the welcome address, Siddharth Nautiyal, Partner, Omidyar Network India & Chairman – IIC, said, “Impact investing has continued to strengthen in India and has become increasingly diversified across multiple sectors. Over $4 billion has been invested into impact investment sector in the country since 2018, partly into newer sectors such as education, health, energy, etc. The ecosystem has strengthened in terms of allowing exits in more than two dozen investments into impact investing based ventures. India is fast becoming the impact lab of the world. As we host our third edition of Prabhav, our biennial impact investing conference, the focus of the event emanates from three key ideas. One, India has a large base of both - low-income customers and an experienced base of entrepreneurs: access to technology and investments would accelerate the delivery of affordable solutions across sectors. Two, the sector needs sustained large scale capital and the right platforms to connect aspirants to investors. And three, there is a strong combination of both needs and opportunities awaiting the impact investment constituents in a post COVID world. We are proud to be leading the impact investing industry narrative in the country to the next level; the focus is to create an ecosystem to help global partners discover the potential in the sector.”

To be hosted till 9^th October, 2020, Prabhav 2020 will witness more that 100 speakers and participants across 20 sessions and will offer networking opportunities to diverse participants.