Question:

Instructions [72-74]: Read the edited excerpt of an article by Nelson Vinod Moses and answer the question in this context.

A successful non-resident Indian employed in the United States returns to a backward Indian village and transforms the lives of the villagers. Sounds familiar? At 31, Ashwin Naik is pacing through the path Shah Rukh Khan traced in his off-bear Bollywood movie, Swades. Naik had just quit his cushy job in a genomics firm in the US to join MIT Sloan School of Business. With a month in hand, he headed home a travelled through the remote areas of Bagalkot district in Karnataka. The woeful social conditions he saw moved him. Naik chucked the MBA course and in six months set up Vaatsalya Healthcare, a rural healthcare delivery system. In February 2005, Vaatsalya's first hospital opened in Hubli. Two more centres were opened in Gadag and Karwar to offer specialist services of surgeons and facilities such as physiotherapy for children suffering from cerebral palsy. "We introduced paediatric surgery for infants below six months," says Naik. "Else, patients would have to be taken to distant cities of Hubli or Bangalore." Naik plans 100 more units in five states in the next three years. Mere charity by an affluent, middle-class professional? Far from it. Vaatsalya is one among rapidly spreading 'for profit' social enterprises that serve the poor and bring in profit. Mumbai-based Ziqitza, an imbalance services company, is another. It never refuses a patient for money, and charges Rs. 50 to 200. Done fleetingly in India and elsewhere till now, entrepreneurial minds with a social conscience are methodically creating such models at a greater pace. "There has been a boom in the past two years," says Varun Sahni, country director of Acumen Fund, a US based social fund that invests in companies that target low income communities. "Currently, there are about 1,000 in India." The timing seems perfect. There is a wide market acceptance and funding has been coming in easily. These enterprises work across a swathe of areas including healthcare, education, rural energy, agriculture, arts and crafts, banking and more. 'For profit' entrepreneurs are obsessed with social and environmental impact in addition to the financial returns. Since they are answerable to the investors, they try expanding the business rapidly. SKS Microfinance, for instance, started in 1998 and has now over 900,000 customers, 440 branches and an outstanding loan disbursement of over Rs. 452 crores as of August 2007.

Identify the appropriate business model of the kind of enterprise described by the author.

Show Hint

Look for the author's own words describing the enterprises as "for profit" and rapidly expanding, not charity.
Updated On: Jul 14, 2026
  • Servicing societies at no profit
  • Profiting from poor people
  • Setting up enterprises for masses of low-income groups on experimental basis
  • Setting up enterprises for social causes for profit and expand rapidly
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The passage describes Vaatsalya Healthcare, Ziqitza, and similar ventures, and asks us to identify the business model these companies share, based only on what the passage states.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
For a business model question drawn from a passage, we pick out the phrases the author uses to describe the companies directly, then match those phrases against the given options rather than relying on outside knowledge of these firms.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
The author calls these ventures "for profit" social enterprises, so an option describing them as running at no profit does not fit.
The author also states directly that this is not "mere charity," which rules out treating them as pure charitable giving.
Ziqitza is shown charging a modest, capped fee of Rs. 50 to 200 and never turning away a patient for lack of money, which shows the model is not about extracting money from the poor.
The passage describes fast, large-scale growth: Naik plans 100 more hospital units across five states, and SKS Microfinance already has over 900,000 customers and 440 branches, showing these are not small trial projects but rapidly expanding ventures.
The passage also notes these firms are "answerable to the investors," which is why they push to expand quickly, tying the profit motive directly to growth.

Step 4: Final Answer:
Combining the "for profit" social mission with the rapid, investor-driven expansion described in the passage, the correct business model is "setting up enterprises for social causes for profit and expand rapidly," option (D). \[ \boxed{\text{Option (D)}} \]
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