Intervention (Hidden)
Treatment 1 (T1) involved sending 2 SMS messages with information on the ECGLS scheme and the simplified online business registration process to the sampled business owners. The English language text of each message is re-produced below:
Message 1:
“If you have an unregistered enterprise, you may wish to register your business as an MSME with the government. Registration can offer benefits such as making it easier to access loans, loan extensions and capital subsidies. The process is entirely free and requires no information other than your Adhaar Number. Please use the following government-sponsored link to register:
https://udyamregistration.gov.in/Government-India/Ministry-MSME-registration.htm
[Note: This message was sent by IFMR as part of a research study on increasing awareness of government relief efforts.]”
Message 2:
“If you own an MSME with annual turnover less than Rs 100 crore, and you currently hold a loan from a bank, NBFC or microenterprise, you are likely to be eligible for a 20% loan top-up through the government’s ‘Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme’ (ECLGS). If you wish to apply for this additional loan / top-up, please contact your current loan provider and ask them about the ECLGS.
More information on the scheme can be found here:
https://msme.gov.in/whatsnew/emergency-credit-line-guarantee-scheme-eclgs-modification-operational-guidelines
[Note: This message was sent by IFMR as part of a research study on increasing awareness of government relief efforts.]”
Each message was translated into either Tamil, Hindi or Marathi (depending on the region) and sent to the recipient in turn.
Treatment 2 sought to exogenously group together firms into WhatsApp groups of either size 5 or 10 to facilitate organic conversations among business owners. Being part of this group provided firms with contacts they could share information with, and learn from on business related issues such as suppliers, COVID support, how they were coping with COVID and lockdowns, etc. The groups were facilitated by a local research assistant. Prior to forming the groups, the research assistant called each group member and explained the purpose of the group. If they consented to being placed in the group, the research assistant formed the group. It was named “Krea University” to lend it credibility.
Once the group was formed, a voice note recorded by a woman was sent on each group introducing the implementer, and the purpose of the group. Members were encouraged to introduce themselves and say something about their business. We also sent a video explaining how to send voice notes on WhatsApp. The facilitator also tagged group members in order to encourage conversations.
The groups were formed during the peak and just after the peak of the second COVID wave in India (April in Tamil Nadu, and June in Maharashtra and the Northern states). At the time, different states and cities imposed different COVID-19 control policies. Further, access to vaccines was opened to all adults aged over 18 years, with appointments booked online via the Government of India’s COWIN app. There was no wide awareness of this, or of how to navigate the app to secure an appointment. We thus leveraged the groups formed under this intervention to send information on how to book an appointment secure the vaccine using the app. Group members could also share information they might have.
Beyond sharing information on COVID-19 vaccination, the facilitator sought to encourage conversation by asking named business owners to share something related to different topics (e.g. how they were coping with COVID lockdowns, their business plans as the lockdowns were relaxed, how things were going, any changes made relative to 2019 etc). (S)he also sought feedback from group members on what could be improved; ensured that conversation was directed back to the core focus of the group if it diverged and that misinformation was not shared in the groups (if it was, the facilitator would have sought to have it retracted).