ISDM CDSSI Report Finds Only 5% of Social Purpose Organisations in India Are ‘Beginners’ in Data Use

This article highlights the DMA State of the Sector report. Findings show that while only 5.3% are “Beginners”, 70% remain in “Emerging” or “Progressing” stages. Despite 66% of organisations valuing data as “extremely important”, a stark capacity gap exists—only 10% possess in-house data science expertise. Further, data use is primarily restricted to program design rather than holistic management. The authors argue for a cultural shift from viewing data as a compliance burden to seeing it as a shared responsibility for scaling social impact.