In the last decade, many authors have written about the Indian brand of frugal innovation, particularly the success of Aravind Eye Hospital, and more recently, the debacle of Tata Nano. An impressive body of work has been created on examples of frugal innovation from India. Yet, scaling up of frugal innovation remains largely unexplored and a relatively new dimension.
Scaling Frugal Innovations: Insights from India, unpacks the scaling dimension of the widely known examples of frugal innovation from the Indian landscape. It presents the stories of pioneers of affordable solutions in speech areas of health care, like Aravind Eye Care System, Narayana Health, Jaipur Foot and National Institute of Speech & Hearing which scaled up their services to broaden and deepen access to their chosen constituency—the blind, the sick, the physically handicapped and the hearing impaired.
The book travels beyond the health care domain to inspiring transformation stories from India covering Amul and Sulabh International, which started small—yet scaled big. Amul not just helped farmers free up from the clutches of middlemen, but through many technological and management innovations, helped Amul become a big brand, and transformed India from a milk-deficient country into a milk-surplus nation. Sulabh—the affordable twin pour toilet not only helped millions access toilets, but also reduced open defecation, tackled a serious public health problem, and strongly advocated abolishment of the pernicious practice of manual scavenging. Finally, the book touches upon stellar examples of frugal innovation emerging from corporate India. Tata Nano, the famed 2000 dollar car and Tata Swach, the 20 dollar water filter, aimed at improving the life of Indians—one to provide safe and affordable personal transport to an Indian family—and the other to provide an affordable solution for clean drinking water.
All of these scaling organizations have made many small innovations—for one big impact. Through these case studies, the book examines how locally developed solutions scale up. It also makes an enquiry into what distinguishes them from others: Is it their business model, their leadership, innovation, partnerships, or policy support, or a mix of several of these characteristics? Researchers and those interested in innovation from India will not only uncover some gems in the book, but also get inspired by the stories of the visionary leadership of these organizations.
Dr. R.S. Malik has about 50 years experience of teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students. He joined C.R.A. College, Sonepat way back in 1964 as Lecturer in English and retired as Founder Head, Postgraduate Dept of English in 2000. He has read widely and earned reputation as a conscientious teacher. Even after retirement, he has been teaching postgraduate students and has been on the visiting faculty of D.B.C.R. University, Murthal (Sonepat); Gateway Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sonepat; and was Chief Coordinator, NET Programme in Hindu Institute of Competitions and Foreign Languages, Sonepat. At present, he is on the visiting faculty of G.V.M. Girls College, Sonepat, teaching postgraduate students. He has been a member of Board of Studies in English, M.D. University, Rohtak, and a member of the Common Syllabi Committee, M.D. University, Rohtak and Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. He has attended several educational seminars and written books on various topics, both for school and college students. Among his books are Better English (Macmillan); A Textbook of English Grammar and Composition for College Students and History of English Literature from Chaucer to 1800. His special areas of study are Linguistics and Literary Theory and Criticism.
