Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions, a for-profit service that helps people in India access 254 government and private programs, recently expanded its focus on community organizations and larger businesses to include micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The firm works with these partner organizations to reach their members and employees, who are contacted by Haqdarshak-trained agents to determine if and how they can connect with health, financial, educational and other services. The agents also help people apply for identification documents. So far, Haqdarshak “has started working with close to 2,000 MSMEs in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.”
Haqdarshak charges community organizations a screening fee to determine individuals’ eligibility, and then it charges the individuals for each service in which she or he wants help enrolling. When working with employers, the firm bills both of these fees to the employer, so there is no cost to the employee.
Haqdarshak CEO Aniket Doegar said, “We are talking about close to 1 billion people requiring something or the other, whether it’s a government document or registration for a scheme. In India, common people find it scary to get into all this. I’ve seen even a INR 50 crore [USD 6.8 million] turnover company struggling with documentation…so, we haven’t even scratched the surface yet.”
Founded in 2015, Haqdarshak is a firm whose field agents – known as “Haqdarshaks” – connect customers to benefits such as free healthcare, scholarships, pensions and livelihood support. Between April 2019 and March 2020, Haqdershak served 150,000 applicants, enrolling 126,000 of them in one or more programs, thus unlocking benefits totaling INR 2 billion (USD 27 million).
By Nathan Kiplagat, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Mint article
https://www.livemint.com/news/business-of-life/helping-people-claim-benefits-is-good-business-11602426055194.html
Haqdarshak homepage
https://haqdarshak.com
Haqdarshak program linkages
https://haqdarshak.com/gallery
Haqdarshak Annual Report 2019-2020
https://haqdarshak.com/assets/reports/Annual_Report_2019-20.pdf
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