Loans provided by Micro financial institutions have improved the livelihood of women in the country. Justify (200 Words)
Refer - The Business Line
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· Self-help groups (SHG) of women who are being supported with micro loans for their livelihood projects at moderate rates of interest, mainly by public sector banks (PSBs).
· The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana (DAY) aims to uplift the last in the line category of marginalised women.
· It is now known that there are at least 20.05 crore women who hold basic banking accounts under the PMJDY.
· Under the NRLM, as per latest estimates, about 34 lakh SHGs have been credit-linked; the members of SHGs have been given small loans for activities like homestead food processing, dairying, tailoring.
· While informal credit in rural areas would cost upwards of 100 per cent in actual annual interest rates, even the microfinance institutions (MFIs) regulated by the RBI charge 22-24 per cent per annum to cover costs and earn margins.
· It is observed that a majority of the loans under DAY are used for agri and allied activities.
· Given the fact that the agri sector has been recording growth even in these Covid times, a thrust by way of some incentives for DAY (small amounts of capital subsidy, say Rs 5,000 per one-year-old SHGs, or implementation of the interest subvention in all districts of India) has the potential to achieve Doubling of Rural Household Incomes.
Dev 4 years
IAS Parliament 4 years
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