Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog & SAMRIDH Announcement Calling for Proposals from Health Innovators and Entrepreneurs

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Atal Innovation Mission

ATAL INNOVATION MISSION & SAMRIDH COLLABORATE TO SUPPORT HEALTHCARE ENTERPRISES AND INNOVATIONS WITH BLENDED FINANCE SOLUTIONS

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog and SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Finance Facility, supported by USAID and implemented by IPE Global, have joined hands to support health enterprises and innovators with blended financing solutions. This new partnership, leveraging AIM’s expertise in innovation and entrepreneurship, will enhance SAMRIDH’s efforts to leverage philanthropic capital, and public sector resources to offset barriers for commercial investments in small and medium healthcare enterprises to scale sustainable business solutions and innovations. This collaboration envisions to improve access to affordable and quality healthcare for vulnerable populations in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and rural and tribal regions.

Under this partnership, AIM and SAMRIDH have announced a Call for Proposals for healthcare innovators and entrepreneurs in India. Through this initiative they will focus on innovations across the healthcare landscape with the goal to mount an effective response to the ongoing third wave of COVID-19 and build health system preparedness for future infectious disease outbreaks and health emergencies.

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog and SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Finance Facility, as part of their collaboration, released a White Paper “Reimagining Healthcare in India through Blended Finance” to highlight how blended finance can serve as a powerful tool to enable the scale-up of high-impact market-ready health solutions. The paper offers an overview on blended finance and its role in promoting healthcare access in India, taking a closer look at blended financing structures and approaches. It also presents case studies on existing blended finance structures deployed by IndusInd Bank, SAMRIDH, and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and partners, and examines the current challenges to achieving blended financing at scale.

This paper was jointly launched on February 8 2022, by senior leaders from Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, USAID, and IPE Global.

LAUNCH EVENT

To mark this important partnership, a virtual launch was held on 8^th February 2022.The event brought together sector leaders and experts to discuss the need for blended financing to scale market solutions and innovations in the Indian healthcare ecosystem.

Session Introduction

**Dr. Chintan Vaishnav**
*Mission Director*
*Atal Innovation Mission*
*NITI Aayog*

**Mr. Ashwajit Singh**
*Founder & Managing Director*
*IPE Global Pvt Ltd*

Keynote Speakers

**Shri. Amitabh Kant**
*CEO*
*NITI Aayog*

**Dr. Rakesh Sarwal**
*Additional Secretary*
*Health & Family Welfare*
*NITI Aayog*

**Ms. Veena Reddy**
*Mission Director*
*USAID/India*

Panel Discussion

Blended Finance: A pathway to improve healthcare services in India

An interactive panel discussion was conducted, featuring industry experts who shared their first-hand knowledge of how blended finance can catalyze healthcare development for India’s COVID-19 recovery phase by unlocking additional sources of capital. The discussion also brought forth common challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in scaling healthcare businesses and their expectations in terms of financing options and policy support.