Self Help Group-Bank linkage programme

Self Help Group-Bank linkage programme

The poor, especially the rural community, has found it extremely difficult to locate alternate sources of income and employment opportunities, in the wake of their inadequate financial credibility. But the recent economic perspectives on development have pointed towards the importance of micro finance in the empowerment of the rural community. One method of access to micro finance by the rural community, rural women in particular, is the Self Help Group-Bank linkage programme, where banks provide finance to the groups for undertaking economic activities. Thus the programme provides access to associations of rural women, who, otherwise un-united, would have found themselves not eligible for bank finance. It is expected that the access of such institutional credit would bring in social, personal and financial empowerment of rural women.