An Analysis of Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) Growth in India, with Specific Reference to Karnataka - Shivamogga District

In the microfinance group-lending model, Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) have been a notable developmental mechanism that has advanced towards uplifting materialistic, collateral-less, and unbanked poor society in the direction of self-sustainability through easing access to formal financial services with a proposal for self-employment that has long been pursued as their dream. The current study aims to promote future development towards promoting and financing more JLGs in India by documenting the expansionary trend in JLGs and identifying important benefits, restrictions, and suggestions of JLG member-beneficiaries. The study employed purposive sampling, 3 blocks of Shivamogga district were studied during August & September 2024, purposively selecting Bank-Business Corporate (BC) linkage model and randomly selecting well-experienced 30-member beneficiary groups and Garrett’s ranking procedure to prioritize major benefits, constraints and suggestions of JLG members. The findings of the study with women empowerment socially and economically, easy access to formal credit and better repayment as major benefits of JLG participation, hiking initial loan amount, aiding in identification of microenterprise, training and capacity building in related fields, introducing technological innovation on demand-side and linkage to product marketing and brand promotion on supply side were suggested areas of concern towards encouraging massive promotion of JLGs.