A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z All
Reddy, T. C. S.
- Indebtedness and Financial Inclusion Among the Tribal:An Experience of Woman Self-Help Group Member Households in Andhra Pradesh
Authors
1 APMAS, Hyderabad, IN
2 Sadhikaratha Foundation, Hyderabad, IN
Source
The Microfinance Review, Vol 7, No 1 (2015), Pagination: 1-19Abstract
In the recent years, community based microfinance is renowned as an instrument for financial inclusion and inclusive growth. The Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are linked to banks under SHG bank linkage programme to provide financial services to the poor and vulnerable sections for poverty reduction, and to reduce dependence on traditional sources, whose interest rates are over priced. In the tribal areas, majority of the households are away from formal financial institutions for varied reasons and mostly depend on traditional sources for credit. In this context, the present study is to know the indebtedness of tribal households, to assess the SHGs' contribution to household credit, to know the extent of dependence on traditional sources, to know the issues in accessing credit and to evolve strategies to reach the un-reached.
The study covers 189 households whose women members are enrolled with SHGs in 63 villages of 21 mandals/ block in 7 integrated tribal development agencies (ITDAs) of Andhra Pradesh. Qualitative as well as quantitative data were collected by administering pre- tested interview schedule with household members, and focus group discussions with SHGs and their federation members. Fieldwork for data collection was carried out between October and November 2012.
Keywords
Financial Inclusion, Self-Help Groups, Indebtedness, Community Based Microfinance and Formal and Informal Credit Sources.
- Community Based Microfinance:A Study with Reference to Urban Women Self-Help Groups in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
Authors
1 APMAS, Hyderabad, IN
2 AAPMAS, Hyderabad, IN
Source
The Microfinance Review, Vol 7, No 2 (2015), Pagination: 186-198Abstract
During the past decade, the SHG movement gained an impetus not only in rural area but also in the urban areas of India. As the Government of Andhra Pradesh (AP) realised that SHGs and its federations are the best tools for poverty reduction and empowerment of rural women-folk, it has started similar kind of programme in the urban areas known as Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas ( MEPMA). It has facilitated about 3 lakh self-help groups (SHGs) covering 32 lakh women in 189 municipalities and 19 municipal corporations in the undivided state of AP. About 80% of SHGs availed credit linkage with banks at least once since inception. Besides, SHGs disbursed loans to their members from group corpus as well as external credit sources - slum level federations (SLFs) and Sthree Nidhi Credit Cooperative Federation Ltd.
In this context, the present study is aimed to understand the microfinance activities of SHGs promoted in the urban areas of AP and Telangana state (TS). The study has covered 2,000 SHGs in 40 towns in 10 districts of AP and Telangana. The study finds that though there are some serious issues like (i) impounding of large funds in SHG SB accounts, (ii) poor credit linkages with slum level federations and Sthree Nidhi, (iii) distribution of member savings/ group funds and revolving fund and (iv) defaulting to banks. A large number of SHGs and SHG members have however benefited with microfinance services, especially savings and credit services.