Poverty and Microfinance in Char Areas of Dhubri District in Assam (original) (raw)
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Impact of Micro-Finance on Poverty : A Study of Twenty Self-Help Groups in Nalbari District, Assam
Journal of Rural and Development, 2012
This paper is an empirical study conducted in Nalbari district, Assam about the impact of micro-finance on poverty. It examines the nature of loans provided by the SHGs to its members, and finds that the amount of loans provided under the programme to its members is too small to help them cross the poverty line. Again these loans were utilised mainly for consumption purposes, followed by expenditure on current productive activities. Thus, there were only a few capital investments. But these capital investments were also not enough to provide the members full employment opportunity and sufficient income to cross the poverty line. Again it was seen that still the members of the SHGs go either to the moneylenders or to the banks for higher amount of loan. Moreover, it was found that a large segment of the SHGs are closed down. The closing of SHGs was found more in case of those formed under NABARD-sponsored SHG- Bank linkage programme and those formed under SGSY. Actually these SHGs we...
2014
Microfinance is essentially a financial service, routed to the poor generally through Self Help Groups (SHGs), in sheer belief that it will enhance their available choices, opportunities and empower them both socially and economically. With more than 387.38 million Indian people living below poverty line (World Bank, 2011), it becomes imperative to provide them a stimulus to overcome the quagmire of poverty and ignorance prevalent among them. The study area comprises of the selected villages of Rangjuli revenue circle of Goalpara district of Assam, where the Self Help Groups have been surveyed, regarding the microcredit and its role-both positive and negative, in their economic and social lives including their satisfaction level regarding microfinance. The study also bears significance as most of the SHGs surveyed (45 out of 57) are women groups, who are seen as most reliable in terms of repayment and utilization of loans (Joy Deshmukh-Ranadive, 2005). The result suggests that the f...
WHY MICROFINANCE SERVICES HAVE NOT FLOURISHED? A STUDY IN BAKSA DISTRICT OF ASSAM
IAEME PUBLICATION, 2020
While microfinance becomes an acute poverty alleviation mechanism in most of the developing countries, the sustainability of its approaches also becoming crucial with the passes of time and to restore sustainability of microfinance members in the district, the problems with members need to be minimized at the earliest. The aim of this paper is to identify the problems with microfinance services in the district and reveal some way-out. The study is based on both primary and secondary data, but mainly focused on primary data, which have been collected using schedule to attain the objective. The study reveal that, members are suffering from many problems, like delays in disbursement of loans, trainings, insufficient amount of credit, small slabs of loans, problems with maintenance of books of accounts, unsatisfactory income, lack of cooperation among the members etc. Further problems with ‘micro-credit’ is found as the mostly cited problems with sustainability in the district, followed by problems of group management.
MICROFINANCE IN INDIA : ISSUES AND CHALLENGES Introduction
Microfinance is gathering momentum to become a significant force in India. The self helpgroup (SHG) model with bank lending to groups of (often) poor women without collateral has become an accepted part of rural finance. The paper discusses the state of SHG-based microfinance in India and the opportunity untapped because of the huge existing demand-supply gap. With traditionally loss-making rural banks shifting their portfolio away from the rural poor in the post-reform period, SHG-based microfinance, nurtured and aided by NGOs, have become an important alternative to traditional lending in terms of reaching the poor without incurring a fortune in operating and monitoring costs. The government and NABARD have recognized this and have emphasized the SHG approach and working along with NGOs in its initiatives. In spite of the impressive figures, the supply side of microfinance in India is still presently grossly inadequate to fill the gap between demand and supply but it holds the promise to act as a great opportunity for the financial sector and the economy as a whole.
The Scope of Microfinance in Indian Context
Microfinance is gathering momentum to become a major force in India. The selfhelpgroup (SHG) model with bank lending to groups of (often) poor women withoutcollateral has become an accepted part of rural finance. The paper discusses the state of SHG-based microfinance in India. With traditionally loss-making rural banks shiftingtheir portfolio away from the rural poor in the post-reform period, SHGbasedmicrofinance, nurtured and aided by NGOs, have become an important alternative to traditional lending in terms of reaching the poor without incurring a fortune in operating and monitoring costs. The government and NABARD have recognized this and have emphasized the SHG approach and working along with NGOs in its initiatives. Over half a million SHGs have been linked to banks over the years but a handful of states, mostly in South India, account for over three-fourth of this figure with Andhra Pradesh being an undisputed leader. In spite of the impressive figures, microfinance in India is still presently too small to create a massive impact in poverty alleviation, but if pursued with skill and opportunity development of the poor, it holds the promise to alter the socioeconomic face of the India's poor. Rs.54456.20 million and more than 4.24 million SHGs credit linked with loan outstanding of Rs.226808.5 million as on 31 March 2009. It is the largest microfinance programme in the world in terms of outreach covering nearly 86 million households, largest financial inclusion programme in India. SHGs have become the common vehicle of development process, converging all development and livelihood programmes. The programme has transformed the rural financial institutions and their approaches to microfinance delivery to the poor, led to emergence of large number of SHPIs, Federations, Business Facilitators and above all, ushered socio-economic empowerment of the poor, particularly women. The massive growth of the programme has brought to the fore several new issues and challenges e.g., ensuring balanced distribution of SHGs across the regions, micro-enterprise promotion for matured SHGs/members, sustenance of quality of SHGs, etc.
AN OVERVIEW OF MICROFINANCE IN INDIA
In a country like India where 70 percent of its population lives in rural area and 60 percent depend on agriculture (according to the World Bank reports), micro-finance can play a vital role in providing financial services to the poor and low income individuals. Microfinance is the form of a broad range of financial services such as deposits, loans, payment services, money transfers, insurance, savings, micro-credit etc. to the poor and low income individuals. The importance of micro-finance in the developing economies like India can not be undermined, where a large size of population is living under poverty and large number of people does not have an access to formal banking facilities. The taskforce on Supportive Policy and Regulatory Framework for Microfinance constituted by NABARD defined microfinance as " the provision of thrift, saving, credit and financial services and products of very small amount to the poor's in rural, semi urban and urban areas for enabling them to raise their income level and improve their standard of living. " (Sen, 2008) Micro-finance is regarded as a useful tool for socioeconomic up-liftmen in a developing country like India. It is expected to play a significant role in poverty alleviation and development. There are two broad approaches that characterize the microfinance sector in India is Self Help Groups (SHGs)-Bank linkage programme and Microfinance Institution (MFIs). In India microfinance is dominated by Self Help Groups (SHGs)-Bank linkage programme aimed at providing a cost effective mechanism for providing financial services to the unreached poor. The present paper aims at identifying the current status and role of microfinance in the development of India.
Microfinance through SHG-Bank Linkage Programme in Assam
, http://www.euroasiapub.org (An open access scholarly, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journals.) ABSTRACT Micro finance is the provision of thrift, credit and other financial services and products of very small amounts to the poor for enabling them to raise their income levels and improve their living standards. It is now being considered as one of the most important and effective mechanism for poverty alleviation. There is positive effect of microfinance on socioeconomic environment in rural areas. Microfinance institutions can help the people who engage in small-scale firms based on agriculture, micro enterprises, animal rearing activities, handicraft making, floriculture, food processing and fisheries to spread out their business by offering them different kind of small loans. Over the past few years, Micro-Finance, through the formation of Self Help Group (SHG), has proved to be an effective channel for disbursement of credit in rural areas. The Self-Help Group and Bank Linkage Programme (SHG-BLP), implemented by the NABARD since 1992, has become the dominant model of micro finance in terms of both number of borrowers and bank loans disbursed and outstanding. The main objective of this SBL programme was to enable the poorer people, as a group, to access credit, without any collateral security, for improving their economic condition by utilizing the credit availed in productive purposes. With respect to the state of Assam, the SHG-BL Programme has got momentum a little latter than other parts of the country, it has picked up its importance and has gathered momentum from the year 2001-02. Realizing the necessity of micro finance for rural transformation, the proposed paper attempts to examine the overall performance of the SHG-BL Programme in the state of Assam as it plays an important role for rural development and poverty alleviation. The study is mainly based on secondary sources of data.
Microfinance: Issues and challenges in India
International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences, 2014
Micro Finance may be defined as provision of thrift, credit and products of very small amounts to the poor people in rural, semi urban or urban areas, for enabling them to raise their income levels and improve living standards. Microfinance mechanism ultimately support poverty alleviation programme in India. This working paper tries to outline the prevailing condition of the Microfinance in India in the light of its emergence till now. The prospect of microfinance is dominated by SHG-(Self Help Group)-Bank linkage programme. The main aim of microfinance is to provide a cost effective mechanism of credit. This research paper highlights the hierarchy of microfinance institutions, delivery models and major challenges like regional disparity, high rate of interest, uneven growth of credit schemes, lack of insurance services etc. Finally this paper concludes with some suggestions to improve MFIs in India so that they fulfill the intent of their establishment.
Microfinance -A Tool for Socio -Economic Development in Rural India
Microfinance stands as one of the most promising and cost effective tools which fight against global poverty. The findings from this study suggests that there is rise in the history and perspectives of rural credit in India in form of microfinance and there is need for improved governance to manage challenges for future so that socioeconomic growth is possible. The present paper discusses conceptual framework, development process, growth of SHG linked microfinance programme, types of micro finance services and developmental role of these institutions in rural India. It also focuses on the status of microfinance and provides some policy framework to meet the challenges faced by Indian microfinance. The article traces that the evolution of the microfinance revolution in India as a powerful tool for socioeconomic development in rural India.