Trend

Look for the bare necessities

Impact investing is looking to fund businesses that will operate at the bottom of the pyramid in India

Illustration by Kishore Das

There are likely to be fewer illnesses from contaminated drinking water in some 25 villages in Odisha this monsoon. Villagers, who were drinking water infected by e-coli colonies, can now go to the local kirana store and pay Rs.2 for 10 litres of purified drinking water. Or else, they can have jerry cans of water delivered to their homes for Rs.3 per 10 litres. Paul Polak, the 79-year-old founder of Spring Health International, the company that sells this water, is sometimes accused of profiting from the poor.