ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SHGS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MICROFINANCE SCHEMES IN RURAL INDIA

The paper examines how rural women in India have been economically empowered by being enrolled in SelfHelpGroup (SHG) related microfinance programs. The study examines the extent of income and savings behaviour, assetown ership and self employment among SHG beneficiaries in three different states in India (Bihar, Odisha andKarnataka) using a structured Economic Empowerment Scale. A cross sectional survey of 300 participants wascarried out in a quantitative way, and the d ata were analysed both descriptively and inferentially. The results indicatethat SHG membership is highly beneficial in increasing the household income, disciplined savings, investment inproductive assets and self employment. The effect is however differ ent in different regions and this is largelydependent on institutional support, quality of training and the length of SHG membership. Other challenges that thestudy identifies include lack of uniformity in access to training, inefficiency in regional ban king, and inability tomonitor informal earnings. These lessons highlight the promise of SHG based microfinance as a revolutionaryinstrument of rural development, as well as the necessity of policy interventions, sustained capacity building, andmonitorin g mechanisms that are more regular. The paper provides a better insight into the potential of microfinancein inclusive economic growth and the areas of future research.