India

Why India?

Densely populated India occupies 2.4 percent of the world's land area and is home to over 15 percent of the world’s population. Market-oriented economic reforms have helped India achieve significant GDP growth and poverty reduction in the last two decades. Out of India’s economic boom, a growing middle class is emerging, yet over two-thirds of India’s population still lives on less than $2 per day. Though officially illegal, caste-based discrimination remains prevalent, particularly in rural areas, where roughly 70 percent of India's population still resides. With India's middle class expected to grow tenfold by 2025, HOPE and our partners in India are working to see this economic growth accompanied by strong spiritual growth.

HOPE in India

While some Indian markets are oversaturated with financial services, HOPE* is at work in two regions where loan sharks remain a primary source of credit for our target clients. HOPE’s partners train India's poor to form Savings and Credit Associations in which they can save their own small sums of capital to on-lend to one another. In these groups, clients are building solidarity, discovering their inherent worth as individuals created in God's image, and creating economic safety nets that provide protection from moneylenders, traffickers, or financial emergencies.

*In India, HOPE works in conjunction with two partners, whose names and locations have been withheld for security.