Emerging Market Retail Podcast - Season 2 - Episode 3 - The vital role of technology on social assistance programs

In this episode, we look at innovative research on increasing commodity uptake in social assistance programs, with a focus on India's food subsidy program. We talk about the different types of goods available, the operational aspects, and the administrative bodies in charge. A large portion of the discussion focuses on the innovation of technology-enabled agent choice, which has been shown to increase commodity uptake by 6.6%. Our guests describe how this works, including agent selection and benefits, as well as scalability. We also look into other market initiatives to increase product adoption and the advantages of in-kind programs over cash vouchers. Finally, we discuss Fair Price Shops' role in this ecosystem, providing a thorough understanding of this important research and its real-world implications.