The launch of our The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid report yesterday triggered a number of thoughts and conversations about how forces are starting to align in support of market-based approaches to alleviating poverty. First, the standing room only crowd in the large auditorium of the International Finance Corporation (private sector arm of the World Bank), largely from NGOs and development agencies, says something about the appeal of finding private sector “solutions” to improve conditions at the base of the pyramid.

Second, the hunger for hard data on BOP markets and opportunities—the essence of the report—among both large agencies and large companies was palpable. As Nariman Behravesh of Global Insight put it, there is a market for the data, because no one has had any comprehensive picture of the BOP until now. Over lunch, Mattia Romani of the Shell strategy group explained that, to a senior manager trying to decide which projects to green light for capital investment, the existence of data such as that in The Next 4 Billion could make all the difference. Jonathan Lash, WRI’s president, shared a similar experience from a recent Board of Directors meeting of an investment company—who, hearing about the report, were almost desperate to get copies. Our corporate underwriters are also anticipating the detailed briefings we have promised them on the data.

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What follows below is an excerpt from the Energy Chapter of the The Next 4 Billion report. The chapter contains two country specific case studies. The study below, on India, provides a comprehensive preview of much of the data and analysis available in the energy chapter.

India's energy story points to trends seen consistently across surveyed countries...

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