MEASURING THE IMPACT OF MICROFINANCE ON SOCIAL ENHANCEMENT OF WOMEN: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract During 2011, market commentators predicted the end of India’s microfinance market. DAY-NRLM is being implemented across the country in a mission mode since 2011 with the aim to bring at least one-woman member from each rural poor household, as per the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data and process of Participatory Identification of Poor (PIP), into the fold of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and to support them to take up economic activities. As on 31st January, 2025 about 10.05 crore Women households have been mobilized into 90.90 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs). The extensive study of existing literature indicates that several studies have been undertaken either by individuals, institutions or research agencies to review the prospects of the microfinance and socio-economic status of women. So far, scholarly evaluations of microfinance's impact have overwhelmingly focused on measuring the economic empowerment of group members and their families. Comparatively few studies examine microfinance's social impact, and these have relied solely on measuring the social empowerment of individual group members. Though the agencies examined the socio-economic impact of the programme, they were not comprehensive and complete in their approach. As a matter of fact, contributions made in this regard by individual academicians and researchers are limited in scope and their attention was focused either on social factors or on economic conditions of the self-help group members. Further, no study was conducted in Malenadu regions in linking credit with Social conditions of women SHGs in the region. To fill the gap in research, the present study has been undertaken to encompass various dimensions of the microfinance in respect of improvement in social conditions of women SHG members, specifically in Malenadu regions in the state of Karnataka, India.