Episode 3 | Decoding Impact – Season 4

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Sattva Consulting

Guest: Shilpa Kumar, Managing Director & Head of India, British International Investment

India needs $2.5 trillion by 2030 to reach its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) - climate action plans submitted under the Paris Agreement. As the climate crisis worsens, the role of climate finance and especially Development Finance Institutions, in becoming a catalyst for transformative solutions is more important than ever. In this illuminating episode, Shilpa Kumar decodes climate finance: its purpose, gaps, and types of funders. From smart metres to the Mumbai metro, she draws on her own work to offer sharp perspectives on solving for climate change at scale. Through their complementary experiences and viewpoints, Rathish and Shilpa bring context-rich insights on India’s climate landscape, while exchanging stories that show it is possible to combat climate change.

Key Topics Discussed

1. Current state of climate finance (India and internationally), the existing gaps, and the role DFIs play

2. Enabling tailwinds for climate finance

3. Climate interventions in mobility

4. What initiatives are powered under climate finance?

5. The case of smart metres: the importance of last-mile distribution

6. How to manage the perceived risk of climate investment

7. How India can attract more capital for climate action

8. Adaptation & resilience - gaps, stories, and climate financing for it

9. Why MSMEs struggle to go green

10. State capacity at the city level

11. Role of philanthropy in climate finance

Episode 2 | Decoding Impact – Season 4

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Sattva Consulting

Guests:

Sohini Bhattacharya, Independent Consultant - Gender and Leadership & Senior Advisor, Accelerator for Shifting Gender Norms Through Education

Erin Ganju, Managing Director - Accelerator for Shifting Gender Norms through Education

What are gender norms? How do they impact a woman’s ability to work or study? And most importantly, can they be changed?In this episode of #DecodingImpact, Sohini Bhattacharya and Erin Ganju weigh in with deep insights, inspirational stories, and moving anecdotes drawn from their decades-long experience in working with communities and shifting gender norms.

The conversation explores the reality of deeply embedded norms, the negative impact of women’s limited participation in the workforce, and the role of all stakeholders - from schools to families - in bringing about societal transformation.

Key Topics Discussed

1. Understanding gender norms

2. The negative impact of women’s limited participation in the workforce on families, communities, and nations

3. Gender norms are hard to change, but it’s possible

4. Engaging adolescents in important conversations

5. How patriarchy also harms boys and men

6. The role of schools, teachers, and parents

7. Mobilising communities to support gender equality

8. How systems and organisations can drive lasting change

Episode 1 | Decoding Impact – Season 4

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Sattva Consulting

Guest: Dr. R. Balasubramaniam (Dr. Balu), Member–HR, Capacity Building Commission (Government of India) and Chairperson, Social Stock Exchange Advisory Committee (SEBI)This thought-provoking episode of Decoding Impact spotlights the evolution of state capacity in India and its critical role in India's development. It features an in-depth conversation with Dr Balu, an acclaimed development scholar, author, and founder of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), as he shares powerful insights from over four decades of work spanning grassroots development, advising major institutions, and shaping public policy from within the system.Together, they explore the paradoxes of India’s relationship with its government, the tension between public reliance and skepticism, the evolution of the state from a colonial apparatus to a citizen-centric enabler, and the deep-rooted challenge of building effective state capacity.Rathish and Dr. Balu also unpack the historical, philosophical, and practical lessons behind public administration in India, with reflections from the Ramayana to the present-day Mission Karmayogi initiative.Key Topics Discussed1. The true meaning and evolution of state capacity in India2. Why “training is for circus animals”, rethinking capacity building beyond repetitive skills3. Lessons from India’s heritage on governance4. The shift from individual heroism in bureaucracies to system-wide effectiveness5. Why civil service competencies must be rooted in historical and cultural contexts6. The on-ground realities: workforce shortages and systemic performance barriers in public service7. How Mission Karmayogi aims to future-proof India’s civil services for a tech-enabled, citizen-centered future8. The shared responsibility of citizens and the state in nation-building#StateCapacity #Governance #India #PublicPolicy #SocialImpact #MissionKarmayogi #Leadership #podcast

From the macro to the micro and everything in between, in this episode of Decoding Impact, Manish Sabharwal illuminates the economics of India's current job market and the systemic levers needed to thrust India into grasping its full potential as an economy, society and nation. As one of the foremost experts on India's job market and the plight of Education in India today, Manish shares his expert insights, critical frameworks, and orbit-shifting views on how India can address its challenges at scale across its diverse geography, complex beaurocracy, and challenging education system. Some of the key insights he shares with host Rathish Balakrishnan include: • India does not have an unemployment issue, but a wages issue & there are five key levers where this can be addressed • However, across these five drivers regulatory cholesterol is a key limiting factor to India's labour market • Addressing the discrepancies between formality and informality means solving for poverty • Moving beyond the current drudgery in education requires five key design principles • Apprenticeships need to play a more significant role in how India is skilling its future workforce • We need clarity of vision in what education is giving children in India, which includes the traditional three "r's", but also important soft skills Manish elucidates each insight with clarifying data and global comparisons to ground the Indian story of where our labour market is today, and where it could be in as little as five years time with certain critical changes. Tune into the latest episode from season three of Decoding Impact today! Manish Sabharwal is is Vice-Chairman of TeamLease Services, one of India’s leading staffing and human capital firm. Additionally, he co-founded India Life, an HR outsourcing company in 1996, and is a member of the National Skill Mission, Central Advisory Board of Education and has served on various policy committees for education, employment and employability.

The Indian energy sector is at a critical juncture. Electricity consumption, a key indicator of economic growth, has grown significantly over the past 50-60 years, and India is primed to leapfrog into a sustainably powered future.

This transition calls for a robust policy foundation, technological advancements in demand-supply and storage mechanisms, and a keen study of economic incentives for users of green energy. In this episode of Decoding Impact, Rathish Balakrishnan is in conversation with scientist Dr. Nikit Abhyankar to unpack the unique opportunity India has, to transition to renewable energy, with economic viability and technological feasibility at the centre.

Through this conversation, you will learn about:

• The interplay between energy consumption and economic growth;

• The potential for the energy sector to leapfrog mirroring India's telecom boom;

• The policy environment, key shifts necessary in demand management, and

• The role of digital public infrastructure (DPI) in facilitating efficient energy transactions.

Tune into this latest episode of Decoding Impact today!

Dr Nikit Abhyankar is a Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a Senior Scientist at the Center for Environmental Public Policy of the University of California, Berkeley. Dr Abhyankar has conducted extensive research and policy analysis on a range of key energy issues such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, and energy access in the United States and key emerging economies such as India, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. He regularly advises governments, regulators, and utilities in multiple countries on designing clean energy policies and programs.

Guest: Dr Nikit Abhyankar

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Produced by: Pickle Jar Media

Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic:

Enabling Energy Transition Through Open Networks

Green Roads Ahead: Decoding India's EV and

Digital Public Infrastructure ft. Akhil JP & Arun VinayakDigital Public Goods Glossary

With the recent Union Budget announcement allocating ₹1.48 lakh crore to education, employment, and skilling, one question we continue to grapple with in the impact ecosystem, but in Education especially, is whether money is enough to really achieve the outcomes needed?

Since Independence, Education has been the cornerstone of growth, development, and perhaps most importantly, hope for the nation. Yet, after so many decades of interventions, well-intentioned individual efforts, and the collective intent across philanthropy, the corporate sector, and government, why is Education in India still falling short of excellence?

In this episode of Decoding Impact, through a rich and powerful discussion with expert guests from Avanti Fellows, Akshay Saxena, Co-founder & co-CEO, & Vandana Goyal, Managing Trustee & co-CEO, host Rathish Balakrishnan delves into challenges across scale, systems, and gender in Education today to understand what it will take to truly scale excellence in India's education system.

Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic:

• Decoding ASER for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Outcomes with Dr Rukmini Banerji

• Decoding Mafias, National Heroes, and the role of Government in Education ft. Anil Swarup

• Barriers to Breakthroughs: Encouraging Girls’ Participation in STEM Education

Guests: Akshay Saxena & Vandana Goyal

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Produced by: Pickle Jar Media

Get to know more about our latest guests featured on Decoding Impact, Akhil JP & Arun Vinayak,⁠ through this revealing rapid fire! Listen to the latest episode of Decoding Impact!: 🔴⁠ ⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🟣 ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔵 ⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Website

India is the third largest innovation ecosystem in the world. From India's transformational growth in the IT sector to her rapid digitisation, innovation is truly having its moment in India today. However, despite this promising outlook, social innovation continues to face challenges to scale.

Faced by the perennial challenge that the problems for people and planet are running faster than the solutions being created to solve them, social innovation has a critical and lasting role to play in ensuring we break the cycle of creating poor solutions for the poor. In this episode of Decoding Impact, Rathish Balakrishnan and expert guest Manoj Kumar engage in a dialogue on social innovation that is not only helpful to understand the innovation landscape in India today, but to also numerous ideas and examples of what social innovation looks like.

Through this discussion you will get insight into:

• India's innovation landscape

• The mental models for entrepreneurs to succeed

• The architecture needed for social innovation to scale

• How we need to look at unlocking diverse forms of capital from across CSR and Philanthropy

Tune into this latest episode of Decoding Impact today!

Manoj Kumar is the founder of Social Alpha, a multistage innovation curation and venture development platform that has supported over 300 startups under his leadership. Manoj is one of the pioneering forces in India's social innovation landscape, with a wealth of expertise and hands-on experience founding startups.

Explore some of our SKI products related to this topic:

• Decoding the Rupee for Rupee impact of blended finance ft. Ramraj Pai

• Decoding the Role of Philanthropy in Blended Finance ft. Prachi Windlass

• Guidebook: CSR and Corporate Philanthropy Towards Innovation

Guest: Manoj Kumar

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan

Producer: Meenakshi Iyer

Produced by: Pickle Jar Media