New research by a group from the University of Cambridge in the UK has revealed that religious institutions in India innovate as much as their commercial counterparts to retain existing customers and attract new ones as well.
This latest research shows that religious institutions in India run the extra mile in providing several non-religious services to keep their flock growing in an age when economic disparity is widening since the 1991 liberalisation. The study concludes that religious bodies “compete for adherence” as much as any typical commercial organisation that compete to attract new customers.
A University of Cambridge team from the Faculty of Economics and the Cambridge Judge Business School, spent two years surveying 568 Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh and Jain religious organisations across seven Indian states to examine their innovations in offering religious and non-religious service provision.
Sriya Iyer, of the University’s Faculty of Economics and St Catharine’s College, one of the lead researchers on the project said, “We have found that the resilience of religion draws from the ability of groups to undertake innovation and innovative behaviour, similar to the behaviour observed in business firms. In the same way a business tries to stay ahead of its competitors, religious groups are showing the same rational economic responses to changes in the political, ecological and economic environments in which they operate.”
From data collection to final report, this exercise took six years to complete, said Iyer. The survey took place in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Gujarat. In all, 272 Hindu religious groups were interviewed, along with 248 Muslim, 25 Christian and 23 Sikh and Jain religious organisations.
While all these religious institutions are providing the core religious services, they have also learned to address the need for non-religious services to their devotees. These services have been broadly classified under six heads — education, health, food, employment, childcare and others.
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Iyer said although India is becoming more powerful and wealthy, rising social inequality, especially in the poorer states, have helped religious groups fill the gap left by the lack of state-sponsored social welfare, especially in the fields of education and healthcare.
The study has also showed that these religious institutions compete neck to neck like their commercial counterparts when it comes to innovation. “Cow-lending, computer-based learning, sewing and aerobics classes are just some of the ways Indian religious organisations across all the major faiths are diversifying their ‘business model’ to maintain the loyalty of their followers and attract new devotees,” Iyer said.
Counter to some analyses of religion in India that have mainly studied the negative consequences religion might engender, we are emphasising the positive role of some religious organisations in India today and the work they do among the wider community, Iyer said.
A break-up of the types of services also showed some interesting trends like Hindu institutions devoting a larger part of their resources to food distribution, while Muslim and Christian institutions are devoting more on education. Quoting a Sufi scholar on the the practice of a community kitchen in his mosque, the report says, “Yahan bhukha jagtaa hai par koi bhukha sota nahi” translated as ‘People wake up on an empty stomach here but no one will go to bed on an empty stomach’.