Role of Microfinance in Economic Empowerment of Rural Women- A study with reference to Self-Help Groups in Arunachal Pradesh

Microfinance programmes have been receiving a considerable attention world over for their potential to generate income and employment and alleviate poverty. The experience shows that Microfiinance programme has a high degree of reach out to women SHGs for promotion of income generating activities has become an effective strategy for alleviation of poverty. The Microfiinance facility is one of the solutions to promote the quality of life which accelerate the socio-economic development and reduce the rural poverty considerably. Self-Help group (SHG) is a group of women that usually consists of 10-20 members who belong to similar socio-economic background. SHGs are created with the purpose of generating saving and credit organisation with the logical concept of uplifting socio-economic status of rural poor women. It is a very effective tool to promote rural savings and provide gainful employment. Self help groups are able to promote income generating activities through Microfiinance and SHGs are considered as a very effective instrument of social and economic development. The main objective of this study is to find out the role of Microfinance in economic empowerment of rural women in the sample districts. For this study simple random sampling method was followed and information was derived by using both primary and secondary data. This study is limited to data collected from SHGs registered under Arunachal State Rural Livelihood Mission (ArSRLM) of Lower Subansiri and Papumpare districts.