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In India, the concept of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) has emerged as a model to alleviate poverty and improve overall conditions of the rural poor, especially rural women. The increasing number of SHGs every year shows its potential; however, sustainability of it has always been questioned. Therefore, a study was conducted in the selected districts of Andhra Pradesh to understand the functioning pattern and sustainability of the SHGs, which were formed under SHG Bank Linkage Programme. A total of 81 SHGs were taken for evaluation of credit translation into income generating activities. The study revealed that initially all the groups were being supported externally besides their own corpus fund for financial stability. SHGs mobilized their resources through various income generating and entrepreneurial activities. The groups involved in diversified activities like tailoring, preparation of pickles, handicraft, etc. However, all the SHGs more or less adopted the same activities, indicating competitive market and that resulted in marginal profit within a geographically confined locality. All the members opined that there was increase in household income and they could realize the dream of credit for income generating activities.
Keywords : Self-Help Groups, Sustainability, Income Generating Activities, Entrepreneurship.
Introduction
Persistent poverty is one of the basic problems affecting India's economy, women being the most vulnerable group affected by it. This is more pronounced in poorer families, in which household income is largely depended on family women for survival. Interestingly, nearly half of the human population are women and the rural women in India constitute about 77 per cent of the total female population, which is a leading working force. The economic development of any nation depend largely on the growth of this community in terms of entrepreneurship, employment activities in agriculture and allied sectors, mobilization, utilization and generation of funds or capital. Against this back drop, the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) has introduced 'SHG Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP)' in India to empower rural population, particularly rural women. Self-Help Groups (SHGs) are small, informal and homogenous groups of not more than 20 members each. The goal of forming SHGs is to promote savings and credit activities and also to promote empowerment of women into production units (Choudhary et al 2009). As the credit, security and other...