The ThinkChange India staff is committed to providing our readers with interviews with people we believe are at the brink of something special but have for the most part been overlooked by the mainstream media. Readers will be able to see other conversations under our TC-I Changemakers tab Its July and it is that time [...]

After taking the automotive industry by storm with the launch of its small car Nano, Tata has set its eye on low-cost housing. Hours ago, Tata’s housing division has announced a low cost housing project in Boisar, a suburb in Mumbai, that is aimed at allowing people in the lower income segment own a decent [...]

The Hindu reports about mKrishi (mobile Krishi) a mobile agro advisory system launched by Tata.  It can help farmers get personalized advise and updated information on their mobile phones about factors that may affect their crops such as weather. Prima facie, this looks very similar to Nokia’s LifeTools that ThinkChange India reported a few days earlier.  However, [...]

Yesterday in my Leadership in Organizations class we discussed the concept of empowerment up and down the organizational chart — basically giving even the ‘lowest’ rungs on a corporate ladder the ability to make their own decisions and take control over their jobs. I could not help but think about my visit this January to [...]

I read Atanu Dey’s take on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in India in response to a question put forward by Sramana Mitra on her blog Why is the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India not coming together as well as it needs to? Atanu makes a strong pitch for leveraging existing solutions for development, reasoning that India has not [...]

Indian Express and Abbynews.com report that University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), Canada and The Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to “empower the rural entrepreneurs of North India.” “India needs entrepreneurs at the grass roots level, and our partnership with CRRID allows us to [...]

Earlier this year, ThinkChange India covered the signing of MoU between TATA Sons, UC Berkeley and Cambridge University to provide opportunities for the students from these universities to take part in Tata International Social Entrepreneurship Scheme (TISES). The primary objective of TISES is to provide international students with a chance to work in community initiative [...]

The TATA NEN Hottest Startup Awards recognizes high-potential startup organizations in India. Startups seems to be a dime a dozen these days, so beating out hundreds of other new ventures is quite a feat. I’ve picked out some nominees that have a social twist to their operations. Three startups are featured after the jump, but [...]

Here are two stories from Microcapital.org: Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) and Lok Capital LLC have decided to jointly invest $1.5 million in Arohan Financial Services Ltd., a MFI located in Kolkata. Partnering with traditional MFIs like SKS India, companies like Bhartiya Samruddhi Finance Limited (Basix), Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance and TATA AIG Life [...]

Rs. 800 to a 1000 crore, that’s how much the Tata Group, one of the oldest and largest business houses in India spends annually on Corporate Social Responsibility [Via Economic Times] The Tata Trusts control 65.8 per cent of the shares of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Group. The combined development-related expenditure of [...]