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Women's lack of economic empowerment not only impedes growth and poverty reduction, but also negatively impacts education and health outcomes for children. Thus, it is extremely important to ensure that women are economically empowered. Financial inclusion may be defined as the process of ensuring access to financial services and timely and adequate credit - where needed by vulnerable groups, such as women - at an affordable cost. India's Self-help Group (SHG)-Bank Linkage Program was launched in 1992 as a flagship program by the country's National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. The objective is to meet the financial needs of the poor by linking SHGs with the formal credit agencies. Financial inclusion of India's women can be best ensured through SHGs. This collection contains papers that provide valuable insights into the importance and functioning of SHGs to ensure financial inclusion and hence economic empowerment of women in India.
In recent years financial inclusion has been given top priority as financial development and economic growth are interdependent. Women constitute almost half of country's population and their work participation is also increasing and diversifying and impacting her family, neighbourhood and the economy too. Notwithstanding their numerical strength women are still confined to a secondary status in social life, economic activities and decision-making processes. The Draft National Policy for Women in Agriculture (April 2008) prepared by National Commission for Women (NCW) stated that an estimated 20 per cent of rural households are defacto female headed due to widowhood, desertion or male-out-migration. This makes women economically vulnerable and both occupationally and socially, the victims of discrimination. Self-reliance through solidarity and productivity seems to be the way out of this human poverty. Financial inclusion therefore, could be a means to come out of poverty. Self-help Groups are considered to be the enabling mechanism in this regard. The most common group lending model under SHG movement in India at present is “SHG-Bank linkages”. Across regions and communities SHGs of women have improved their participation and saving capacity. When women have financial means, they invest that money back into their families resulting in better economic security. However, we need to know whether this impact translates to better social security in terms of health, education, equity etc. We argue that financial inclusion without social intermediation is a half attempt at women empowerment. Time has come to the 'nobleness' of group approach with 'ability' to cope with challenges and changes of the times. SHGs must be ready for new experiments for the sake of enhancing expertise in group management rather than be complacent with past experience. The objectives of this paper therefore, are to (i) critically examine the role and reach of SHGs towards empowerment, (ii) discuss the issues and initiatives in establishing linkages between the socio-economic dynamics and women's empowerment, and (iii) explore some strategies that may supplant or supplement the SHG initiatives and remove the imbalances that still remain in accomplishing total empowerment of women.
Microfinance, as a concept, involves providing financial services, particularly small credit, fund transfer, and insurance to the unemployed, low-income group, and those who do not have easy access to the banking system. It has emerged as an active agent of financial inclusion, ensuring economic, and social upliftment of the unprivileged. Microfinance is being operated through two channels Self-help Group-Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP) and Micro-finance Institutions (MFIs). The special characteristic of SBLP is its direct connection with the clients at the grass-root level and working towards poverty reduction by providing financial support. The paper is based on a field study on SBLP undertaken for women in the Varanasi District of Uttar Pradesh, India. The increase in women’s participation in economic activities and decision-making reveals that SHGs have made an impact. SHGs have also helped them to create a common platform to participate, discuss, and find a solution of their problems. Women’s income and occupation structure under SHGs have also influenced the standard of living and empowerment level significantly.
Improving the gender-responsiveness of design and delivery of rural finance interventions through innovative approaches and mechanisms is important for promoting rural women’s economic empowerment. This document highlights practical and actionable approaches from the sector in order to guide the work of practitioners engaging at country level to pursue the above objective. Part I of this Technical Guidance Note provides an overview of the main barriers and constraints that inhibit rural women’s financial inclusion. Part II offers a step-by-step approach to analysing the state of gender equality within a specific country or context, with the purpose of diagnosing potential entry points for interventions that aim to increase rural women’s financial inclusion. It then offers a summary of best practices for addressing the main barriers to rural women’s access to and use of financial services, and offers various case studies to illustrate these best practices in action. The annex contains additional guidance and tools for conducting gender-focused diagnostic assessments and analysis.
One of the major tools of attaining proper development all around the world is complete financial inclusion, such that all classes of people can secure their lifestyles through access to financial services from formal sectors. Expanding access to resources and increasing self-employment opportunities help reduce poverty and improve social development. The Handbook of Research on Microfinancial Impacts on Women Empowerment, Poverty, and Inequality is an essential reference source that discusses the role of financial inclusion in gender equality, as well as economic independence and self-employment. Featuring research on topics such as inequality, collaborative economy, and social responsibility, this publication is ideally designed for policy makers, economic researchers, and academicians seeking coverage on social mobilization, capital formation, capacity building, and pro-poor economy designs.
The women's SHG model is a home grown Indian model.Based on the principles of self-help, self-management, self-responsibility and self-reliance, the groups were mobilized by promoting institutions (often NGOs).The self help promoting institutions found that saving and loans could be the binding factor for groups to remain active and pursue their own agenda. NABARD launched a pilot to link SHGs to banks in 1992 which provided these institutions with a boost. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitted banks to open saving accounts in the name of informal SHGs and lend to those groups without cash collateral and without asking for the purpose of the loan. Since 1996, SHG banking has been recognized as regular banking activity. In the process SHGs emerged as mass movement across the country and the largest community based micro finance model in the world.Two decades of the SHG movement has demonstrated positive impact on poverty. The model offers great potential to have millions of member-owned, member-managed and member-used organizations of the poor. In a nutshell this book is highly useful for those who want to do further research on SHGs & women empowerment.
Why it takes more than microloans to empower women and promote sustainable, inclusive economic growth. Nearly one billion women have been completely excluded from the formal financial system. Without even a bank account in their own names, they lack the basic services that most of us take for granted—secure ways to save money, pay bills, and get credit. Exclusion from the formal financial system means they are economic outsiders, unable to benefit from, or contribute to, economic growth. Microfinance has been hailed as an economic lifeline for women in developing countries—but, as Mary Ellen Iskenderian shows in this book, it takes more than microloans to empower women and promote sustainable, inclusive economic growth. Iskenderian, who leads a nonprofit that works to give women access to the financial system, argues that the banking industry should view these one billion “unbanked” women not as charity cases but as a business opportunity: a lucrative new market of small business owners, heads of households, and purchasers of financial products and services. Iskenderian shows how financial inclusion can be transformative for the lives of women in developing countries, describing, among other things, the informal moneylenders and savings clubs that women have relied on, the need for both financial and digital literacy (and access) as mobile phones become a means of banking, and the importance of women’s property rights. She goes on to make the business case for financial inclusion, exploring the ways that financial institutions are adapting to help women build wealth, access capital, and manage risks. Banks can do the right thing—and make money while doing so—and all of us can benefit.
In India financial inclusion has been given top priority in recent years in the philosophies and plans of both financial development and economic growth. Financial Inclusion is the delivery of banking services at an affordable cost to the vast section of the disadvantaged and low-income group. Financial inclusion intends to provide finance to the weaker sections of the society enabling better social development which in turn facilitates investment and economic growth in the country. Inclusive growth is meaningless without including the marginalised sections of society. Excluding women, who represent half the population, makes development process and outcomes unjust and unacceptable, leave alone unfinished. Studies show that over 70 per cent of beneficiaries of the financial inclusion agenda are women. SHGs are one of the essential means to include women in the process of financial inclusion, and they are the prime driver for the financial movement in India. Our study found many shared efforts and experiences to prove motivated and mobilised women's capability and confidence turning to capital resulting in a brighter future for the women themselves and their communities as a whole. India's newfound philosophy of 'inclusive growth' includes a route for enabling women in the growth process - of the self and the society. The objectives of this paper are: to examine the role and reach of SHGs towards empowerment; to discuss the issues and initiatives in establishing linkages between the socio-economic dynamics and women's empowerment; and to explore specific strategies and practices that may supplant or supplement the SHG initiatives and remove the imbalances that remain in accomplishing total empowerment of women.
Ensuring accessibility to credit to the poor self-employed households is a critical concern for many developing nations. Self-help groups (SHG) formed by women in the developing countries help them to access financial intermediaries and access credit for various income-generating activities. In case of India, SHGs are formed either through state-assisted SHG-Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP) or through private initiatives of micro finance institutions (MFIs) or NGOs. Under the former, the groups access formal banking directly while in case of MFIs, loan is disbursed through MFIs themselves. Rate of interest in case of loans obtained by SHGs through SBLP, therefore, depends on the rate of interest charged by the various types of formal lending agencies and is often found to be lower than the interest charges of the MFIs. It is, however, argued that transaction costs involved in a bank loan are substantial, therefore, borrowers prefer loans from the informal sector, delivered at the borrower’s doorstep. In order to examine this issue rigorously, we have tried to estimate the effective costs towards borrowing by including the transaction costs, estimated using quantitative data collected through our survey. Our results show that the transaction costs contribute only marginally to the cost of borrowing, hence, we argue (using field data) that the programme, which has many additional benefits including ensuring financial inclusion of women and empowering them, should be strengthened and expanded further.