With the objective of experimentations for innovative solutions and technologies to improve delivery, method and products for social sector interventions, social incubators have come up in a big way in India. Also, India is a country with a dynamic business community and a vast pool of entrepreneurs. New progressive legislations in India encourage businesses to mandatorily and directly contribute to social sector development through CSR funds.
Following the introductory Section I, the Section II of this discussion paper presents the emerging paradigm shift in social sector financing and its rationale. This section also highlights the newly proposed idea of Social Stock Exchange (SSE) in the Indian context. In Section III, the paper elaborates the new instruments of financing and specific experiences with regard to social impact bond and social incubators in India. Section IV discusses the scope of social stock exchanges, scaling-up social enterprises and the associated institutional framework and resource issues. Finally, Section V provides some suggestive ideas by means of way forward and policy choices.
