Women Empowerment through SHGs

About the Book Women Empowerment through SHGshas explored various aspects of empowerment and role played by Poverty Alleviation Strategy in empowering women. The inability of the existing credit structure to cater the credit needs of poor especially women on the grounds of high transaction costs and problems of recovery, led to the innovation of microfinance. Finance is the root of economic growth and credit considers a core branch of finance. In other words, the financial system's rapid growth depends upon a strong and sound system of credit policy in an economy. Credit is a basic lubricant that helps to push the development process. The formal institutions' structural setup as reflected by stringent collateral requirements, cumbersome and lengthy procedures for obtaining loans, lack of knowledge on the part of the borrower, considered the provision of credit to the informal sector. Further, the small regular and urgent loan demands for the poor informal sector households' consumption are not addressed by financial institutions. Globally, microfinance is used by various governments and development agencies as an instrument to fight poverty reduction.