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| Lok Capital / Lok Strategy / Market Need |
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Market Need |
 Globally the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) consists of 3.7 billion people living on less than $8/day or $3000/ year household income (2002, Purchasing Power Parity) , populating the lowest socio-economic strata and excluded from formal markets.
In India, there are 115 million households in earning less than INR 250 ($5.60) per day, which can be further broken into 80 million middle-income households earning between INR 123 and 250 per day and 35 million low-income households earning below INR 123 per day and with varying levels of financial exclusion and economic & social marginalization.
Amount and uncertainty of income are significant challenges for this segment of population. Also, the ability to plan and save for lifecycle needs, and protect against emergencies is minimal. Even today in India, the penetration of insurance, savings, remittances, and pension products for BoP is extremely low – all sub 5% . Hence, the importance of financial and economic inclusion of this large excluded segment is very critical for overall development of economy and society.
For the lower income segment, economic inclusion is also an all encompassing concept that includes social, financial and market inclusion. Affordable, quality and accessible education and healthcare delivery are critical in order to deliver grassroots level social and economic change.
In parallel, sustainable livelihoods and more market-linked income generating opportunities enable stable inclusive growth for these households and the economy.
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