Microfinance, Self-Help Groups and Empowerment in Maharashtra

Raghav Gaiha and Mani Arul Nandhi

Chapter 10 in The Indian Economy Sixty Years After Independence, 2008, pp 179-199 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The 1990s were marked by partial deregulation of interest rates, greater competition in the banking sector, and a new nationwide microfinance initiative linking banks, NGOs and informal local groups (self-help groups or SHGs).1 Better known as ‘SHG Bank Linkage’, it is expected to become a dominant form of financial access for the rural poor. However, informal/local moneylenders continue to have a strong presence in rural India, delivering finance to the poor, as a vast majority of them still lack access to formal sources of finance (Basu and Srivastava, 2005, Dasgupta, 2005, and Ghate, 2007). A major challenge therefore is to widen access to finance of the rural poor-especially women as a highly disadvantaged and deprived group- to meet their diverse needs (for example, savings, credit, insurance against unexpected events) through flexible products at competitive prices.2

Keywords: Domestic Violence; Bank Branch; Microfinance Institution; Repayment Rate; Political Weekly (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1057/9780230228337_10

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