Microfinance and Self-Help Groups in India
Government Programmes: NRLM and Kudumbashree
The National Rural Livelihoods Mission and Kerala's Kudumbashree build women's groups into large networks.
Governments run large women’s group programmes.
NRLM
The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-NRLM, launched in 2011, forms women’s groups across rural India.
Federations
Groups join into village and cluster federations that can negotiate and manage larger funds.
Kudumbashree
Kerala’s programme, begun in 1998, organises millions of women into neighbourhood groups running microenterprises.
Impact
These programmes combine credit with training, market linkage and social support.
A women's group runs a catering unit, supplying meals to a local school.
Markets and skills are equally important.
- NRLM covers rural India.
- Federations scale up groups.
- Kudumbashree began in Kerala.
- Support goes beyond credit.
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