LA India II

completed

India has the largest population on the planet without electricity access, with 300mn people still relying on kerosene for basic lighting. The program seeks to accelerate the development of markets for clean off-grid lighting products. This will be done by addressing market barriers and working with the private sector to build and develop supply chains to extend distribution to rural areas through the following activities: - Market Intelligence: to help product marketers and distributors understand the new off-grid lighting market segment, supply and distribution chains. The insights from the research serve to inform their business and strategic plans. - Quality Assurance: promoting the adoption of Lighting Global quality standards across the sector to counter the risk of market spoilage from infiltration of low quality products that erodes confidence in the new off-grid technologies among consumers, financiers and stakeholders. - Access to Finance: Adequate financing along the entire supply chain has been identified as being critical for the growth of the off-grid lighting market. The program will explore opportunities to work with financial institutions to meet market demand - Consumer Education: creating awareness, for a market to grow and thrive, consumers must know what products are available, and understand the value and benefits of these products over what consumers are currently using (kerosene and candles etc.). Consumers must also be able to distinguish between good and poor quality products in order to get good value for their scarce resources. - Business Development Support: provide a range of market and business development support activities directly to manufacturers, distributors and retailers under this component with the objective of fostering competition and creating a vibrant and competitive market that will extend distribution to the rural areas.