Authors: Tanyah Hameed, Ivjyot Oberoi, and Mara Airoldi.
Organisations: The Government Outcomes Lab, British Asian Trust
India, a sandbox for development sector innovations for the world, has emerged as a thriving hub for innovative finance in the recent past. Outcomes-based finance, in particular, is an approach that has been piloted in the country by pioneering organisations looking to transform the way development is financed.
As of October 2022, India has launched four impact bonds, a popular outcome-based financing instrument, with more than $10 million investment committed and more than 360,000 service users anticipated to be engaged. These impact bonds aim at improving education, healthcare, and employment outcomes and employ cross-sector collaborations and funding from donors and multilateral organisations. In addition to the four impact bonds mentioned, a pipeline of new impact bonds is in development, alongside other projects within the wider outcomes-based financing space.
In order to map the progress made so far when it comes to paying for outcomes in India, and extract rich insights and evidence from existing programmes and early adopters, we have published a joint case study report with the Government Outcomes Lab, University of Oxford.
The case study report, ‘Evidence and insights from paying for outcomes in India’ uses qualitative methods (in-depth interviews and surveys) to trends, experiences and insights from key stakeholders such us funders, intermediaries, social investors, service providers, researchers, and public sector organisations In India around outcomes-based financing (OBF).
It also discusses key learnings (including drivers, facilitators, and challenges) from stakeholders and considers future directions for scaling and sustaining impact.