In her budget speech in 2019, Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman proposed the creation of a Social Stock Exchange (SSE), which would be an electronic fund-raising platform under the regulatory ambit of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for listing social enterprises and voluntary organizations working for the realization of a social welfare objective.
In this presentation, Dr. R Balasubramaniam, Member-HR in the Capacity Building Commission (CBC: https://cbc.gov.in/) of the Government of India and Chairman of the Social Stock Exchange Advisory Committee set up SEBI, will discuss various related aspects:
1. The idea behind the Social Stock Exchange
2. Use of financial markets to move capital towards social impact
3. The progress to date on SSE
4. Learnings from other countries that already have well-established SSEs
5. Constraints in the real-world implementation
A medical doctor by training, Dr. R Balasubramaniam has an MPhil in Hospital Administration & Health Systems Management from BITS, Pilani. He also has a Master's in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University. In addition to his academic achievements, he serves as a visiting professor at Cornell University, USA, and IIT-Delhi, India, where he teaches courses in Leadership and Human Development.
Dr. Balasubramaniam's extensive career includes dedicated work with remote forest-based tribal communities in the Mysuru district of Karnataka. During his undergraduate days, he led a group of medical students, which ultimately laid the foundation for the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM: https://www.svym.org/), an NGO focusing on health, education, livelihood and training & research across the state of Karnataka. He is also the founder and chairman of the Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM: http://graam.org.in/), a prominent public policy think tank in India.
Dr. Balasubramaniam holds the position of Chairman of the Social Stock Exchange Advisory Committee, established by SEBI. He also serves as a Member of the HR (Human Resources) division within the Capacity Building Commission of the Government of India.
He is a regular columnist in national dailies and has authored seven books in Kannada and English. More about him, his work, and his books are available at www.drrbalu.com.