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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
The welfare of the women folk has been a major concern for the Indian government. Consequently many measures have been launched to ensure a better status to utilize their untapped potential and to bring them into the spectrum of economic development. Self Help Groups- a viable measure was formulated by the government for achieving the objective of women empowerment. The present study was undertaken to assess the performance and economic impact of Microfinance on the investment, income, savings and employment status of rural women. A sample of 60 respondents from 10 Self-Help Groups of Udumalpet block of Tiruppur district formed the sample size. A number of income generating activities were undertaken by the SHGs. The results show positive changes in indicators of economic empowerment like Expenditure (113 to 350%), annual income (128 to 382%), savings (425 to 892%) of the respondents after joining the Self Help Groups. This has increased their participation in household decisions and strengthened the women empowerment. The four point continuum scoring revealed that the dimensions of Socio-Economic empowerment ranked on the first three positions were access to credit, asset building and mobility. Decision making related to child birth, access to sanitation and literacy were ranked lower. Economic problem was the main reason identified for inefficient functioning of SHGs regardless of their type of economic activities. Briefly, microfinancing through Self Help Groups taps the gesture for the upliftment to a better living and positive role in graduating women empowerment.