Volume-XII, Issue-IV, July 2026 |
Self-Help Groups and Financial Inclusion in India: An Analysis of Growth Trends, Debt Recovery and Underlying Variations Dr. Baharul Alom Laskar, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Economics, Govt. Model College Borkhola, Cachar, India |
Received: 12.06.2026 | Accepted: 03.07.2026 | Published Online: 31.07.2026 | Page No: 121-134 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.12.issue.04W.351 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
This study mainly focused on the growth of SHGs with a focus on flow of credit and financial inclusion in India during the time period from 2017-18 to 2024-25. The basic objectives of the study are to analyse the annual growth rate of SHGs and the loan disbursement to the these. The financial inclusion in terms of SHG-bank linkage and debt recovery status has also been anlysed in the study. The study is based on secondary sources of data derived from various government reports published by the different ministries of Government of India. The specific objectives of the study have been addressed with the help of descriptive cum analytical methodology along with the estimation of ANOVA-single factor test. It is found that, during recent times annual growth rate of SHGs across Indian states have been increased at the highest ever rate but the annual growth rate of Loan sanctioned to the SHGs has been declined. All most all the Indian states except Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have 100 percent SHG-bank linkage. Though there is significant variations in number of SHGs linked to the banks but the women members of SHGs across Indian states mostly preferred to do banking transactions with commercial banks followed by regional rural and cooperative banks. The majority of the Indian states have reveled less than 100 percent outstanding loan achievements indicating a healthy credit linkage between SHGs and the banks of the concerned states. Some preliminary policy suggestions have been given based on the vital findings of the study. | ||
Keywords: Self Help Groups (SHGs), Annual growth rates, Loan disbursement, SHG-bank linkage, Debt recovery status, Outstanding loan amount |