We live in a surfeit of business. Virtually, every market opportunity has been analyzed, targeted, funded, and copied. And yet, every now and then comes along an enterprise that makes you sit up and go, "Wow! That is incredibly compelling while being so simple." Haqdarshak, Hindi for 'a guide to one’s rights', is exactly such an example. Its business model is based on an insight so simple, and yet so stark. There are over 20,000 welfare-oriented programmed that exist across India, courtesy the central government and all the state governments. Collectively, these schemes were devised (at least on paper) to benefit ~65% of India’s 1.4 billion population and nearly 90% of the 62 million micro businesses. And as elections become more and more about welfare programmes that can be marketed to voters, we’re likely to see even more of these measures in the run up to multiple state elections in 2023 and general elections in 2024. No matter your view on the efficacy or even existence of so many welfare projects, you can’t deny that they exist and will continue to grow. So, what’s the problem? An average Indian might avail benefits from just a handful of such schemes even though they’re eligible for many more. And that really is the opportunity. A surfeit of welfare programmes, but not enough citizens are aware of or use them. Six-year-old Haqdarshak, which has served 3 million families on the government schemes, works with over 100 companies, including the Tatas, Jindal, Godrej, Amazon, Uber, and Urban Company, to get government schemes to their workers. It collects and curates various government programmes and then assists users to enroll in them via a B2B model, meaning it charges large employers instead of their employees.
