NABARD Grade A — Descriptive Paper

This report is about the status of SHG bank linkage in the district.? There are many self help groups in the district which are linked to banks. They get loans for small businesses. Women members have benefited a lot and their income has improved. However some groups face problems in getting repeat loans. Banks are hesitant sometimes. It is recommended that awareness programmes should be conducted? and banks should be encouraged to lend more. The groups in the district are almost all of women and each has ten to twenty members who save a small amount every month and lend it among themselves. After a group has worked well for some months it opens a savings account at the nearest branch and later becomes eligible for a credit limit. The groups are formed and supported by the rural livelihood mission staff and by a few voluntary organisations working in the blocks. Members have used the loans for dairy animals, small shops, tailoring, vegetable vending and for meeting school and medical expenses. Regular meetings and joint responsibility have kept repayment good in most groups, and members say they no longer go to the moneylender for small needs. The confidence and mobility of women members have improved and some of them now take part in village level meetings. In some blocks the older groups have stopped growing because they have not been given a higher limit.