Practical guidance for corporate CSR teams and non-profits: Companies Act compliance, healthcare programme design, and evidence-based impact measurement across India.
From designing Gujarat's award-winning last-mile healthcare models to enabling Bihar's record-breaking 33 lakh+ single-day COVID-19 vaccinations — the journey behind Causewave.
His work spans WHO surveillance strengthening, CARE India multi-state expansion across 11 states, government health systems in Gujarat and Bihar, and health-tech entrepreneurship.
A data series on India’s CSR project economics using National CSR Portal filings: why average cheque size stays flat, who concentrates vs sprays, and which sectors run fat or thin tickets.
Spend grew ~3× in a decade. The average project is still about ₹35 lakh. Five forces explain why Indian CSR scales by adding projects — not by raising ticket size.
The national average is produced by two portfolio geometries: rare concentrators with large rows, and common sprayers with many small tickets — same Section 135, opposite design.
Rank CSR by average cheque per sector — not total crore — and the podium changes. Education and health dominate spend but sit near the national mean; that is why ticket size will not budge.
Deep-dive articles on corporate CSR strategy, Section 135 compliance, healthcare programme design, and impact assessment — hosted on Causewave.
CSR compliance for corporates: Section 135 thresholds, board obligations, Schedule VII, annual reporting, and penalties — for CSR leads and company secretaries.
Flagship healthcare CSR programme design: community trust, data, logistics at scale, and partnerships that survive beyond the funding cycle.
Impact measurement & advisory: a four-step M&E framework with indicator examples, reporting cadence, and board-ready impact practices for CSR teams.
Essays originally published on LinkedIn by Dr. Hemant L. Patel.
In the shadow of FCRA clamps and USAID's exit, India's NGOs have one lifeline left: CSR. But chasing the same 10 giants? That's a recipe for collapse.
In the span of a single funding cycle, India's social sector has shifted its center of gravity. The familiar flows—once sustained by FCRA clearances and global donors like USAID—have faded.
In the epic Mahabharata, five Pandava brothers share a throne and destiny. While Arjuna dazzles with archery and Bhima dominates with raw strength, the youngest, Sahdev, operates in the shadows.
India's development sector is bleeding funds, yet denial keeps solutions out of reach. Post-pandemic, even established NGOs face dwindling resources.