• Dr. Sampriti Biswas

This article describes the impact of SHGs on empowering women. Empowerment of women concerns about gaining power and control over their own lives. Among the different aspects of empowerment, we suppose economic empowerment to be the most important because it makes women economically independent. Economic empowerment puts women in a stronger position and gives them power to participate together with men in the shaping of society, to influence development at all levels of society and to make decisions that promote their families and wellbeing. It is considered that the provision of microfinance to women is the major strategy for empowering women. Microfinance has the potential to improve the wellbeing of poor women in developing countries. The outreach of microfinance programme is considered to be a means of economic opportunities among the women section of the population and thus have its far reaching implications to the empowerment of women. Microfinance system would strengthen the process of financial inclusion in India and thereby would promote women’s empowerment. In India, microfinance dominated by SHG has provided an effective mechanism for providing financial services to the “unreached poor” and also strengthening underprivileged and discriminated women in the society and thus significantly contributing to gender equality and women empowerment. Rapid progress in SHG formation has now turned into an empowerment movement among women across the country. Microfinance is necessary to overcome exploitation, create confidence for economic self reliance for the rural poor particularly among rural women. The results from these Self-Help-Groups are promising and have become a focus of intense examination as it is providing to be an effective method of poverty reduction and economic empowerment. Mainly, on the basis of secondary data analysis, this paper attempts to highlight the role of SHGs in the economic empowerment of women in India. The results demonstrate that there is significant increase in the empowerment of women in the SHG member group. SHGs-Bank Linkage Programme in India has been increasingly promoted for their positive economic impact to empower women.

SHGs, Economic Empowerment, SHGs-Bank Linkage Programme

"A Discussion on SHGs and Women Economic Empowerment in India", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no.425-428, June 2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907U85.pdf

"A Discussion on SHGs and Women Economic Empowerment in India", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no. pp425-428, June 2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1907U85.pdf