Empowerment of Women through Financial Inclusion under the Self-Help Group Programme in Telangana

A country like India where the majority of the population is from the rural areas, the comprehensive financial inclusion of the population, especially of the poor and disadvantaged segments of the society, is considered a pre-condition for inclusive growth. Over the years, various institutional arrangements and financial inclusion models have been adopted such as agricultural credit cooperatives, bank nationalisation, regional rural banks, etc., which form important segments of rural financing system. Even though the institutional share in the total rural credit has increased over the years, there is still a large credit gap due to the formal processes, procedures and systems of the financial institutions. In addition, some segments of the population are even now deprived quite unaware about the advantages of the formal rural credit system. Studies do suggest that the rural poor are largely continuing to access finance from the local informal sources to carry out economic activities. Though self-help groups (SHGs) do provide a comprehensive pathway for financial inclusion, specially of women, there is a dire need to provide SHGs a smoother route to microcredit. In view of the importance of inclusion of women in various economic activities, this study was undertaken amongst women who had been members of SHGs in Adilabad, Mahabubnagar and Ranga Reddy districts of Telangana to understand how they perceived being empowered on various parameters. It finds that institutional training has helped women in enhancing their existing skills, and a majority of women have attained individual empowerment after joining the programme.