Micro Finance and India\'s Rural Economy
Contents: Preface. 1. Self help groups (SHGs) and micro credit mobilization/D.D. Mali. 2. Micro finance, micro enterprises and SHGs: a case study of Assam Hills/Mizanur Rahman and Jyotish Bordoloi. 3. Micro finance in India: some issues/Ratan Borman and A. Ibemcha Chanu. 4. Micro finance in India: prospects and challenges/Kartick Das. 5. Micro credit institutions and rural poor in Assam/Sanjay Kanti Das. 6. Micro finance and transformation of rural economy in India/Sudhansu Kumar Das. 7. Micro finance and self help groups (SHGs): a case study/Jobon Neog and Sangita Kanoi. 8. Micro finance, self help groups (SHGs) and empowerment of women/Benjamin Franklin Lyngdoh. 9. Financial services to tribal women through self-help groups (SHGs)/Kabita Kumari Sahu. 10. SHGs and micro credit in rural development: a case study/Pradip Kumar Das. 11. Role of NABARD in poverty alleviation through micro finance/Abhigyan Bhattacharjee and Sudip Chakraborty. 12. Micro finance, SHGs and the role of State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) in Assam/P.C. Dutta and A. Kherkatary. 13. Rural development of Karimganj district through micro credit/Avijit Debnath and Golab Chandra Nandi. Index.
"After achieving Independence in 1947, the Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have made concerted efforts to provide the poor with access to credit. Despite the phenomenal increase in the physical outreach of formal credit institutions in the past several decades, the rural poor continue to depend on informal sources of credit institutions in the past several decades, the rural poor continue to depend on informal sources of credit. Institutions have also faced difficulties in dealing effectively with a large number of small borrowers, whose credit needs are small and frequent and their ability to offer collaterals is limited. Besides, cumbersome procedures and risk perceptions of the banks leave a gap in serving the credit needs of the rural poor.
It is in this context that micro credit has emerged as the most suitable and practical alternative to the conventional banking in reaching the hitherto unreached poor population. Micro credit enables the poor people to be thrifty and helps them in availing the credit and other financial services for improving their income and living standards. The Self-help Group (SHG)-Bank Linkage Programme was formally launched in the year 1992 as a flagship programme by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and aptly supported by the RBI through its policy support. The Programme envisages organisation of the rural poor into SHGs for building their capacities to manage their own finances and then negotiate bank credit on commercial terms.
This book contains 13 well-researched papers by experts on the subject which provide analytical information on various aspects of the micro finance and its impact on rural economy of India." (jacket)
