ABSTRACT
The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission touches the lives of over 90 million women organized into 8 million women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs). The lending happened based on a detailed micro credit plan for each household, prepared after ascertaining the asset base and resources through a participatory process. Nano enterprises of SHG women have to be formalized to develop them into micro and small enterprises with proper value-chain development and by leveraging markets for them. Holistic credit guarantee systems for even higher levels of credit where social capital exists is required to translate the potential of social capital into sustained rates of higher economic activity. The biggest scarcity in rural areas is the difficulty in getting good professional managers to work with women’s collectives to develop a sound system of production and marketing. The women’s collective movement under the Livelihood Mission is an opportunity that will determine the trajectory, speed, and quality of inclusive growth in India.
