The Self-Help Group (SHG) Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP), which is India’s own innovation, has proved to be one of the most effective poverty alleviation and women empowerment programmes. Elucidate.

The SHG–Bank Linkage Programme, piloted by NABARD in 1992 with 500 SHGs, links informal groups of 10–20 poor women to banks for savings and collateral-free credit. It has grown into the world's largest community-based microfinance programme, with about 10 crore households mobilised into over 90 lakh SHGs under DAY-NRLM.

Poverty alleviation

• Savings-first discipline and collateral-free credit reduce dependence on moneylenders and cushion consumption shocks.
• Bank credit to SHGs has expanded livelihoods — dairying, poultry, petty trade — with repayment rates historically above 95%, among the lowest NPAs in priority-sector lending.
• Federation platforms such as Kudumbashree (Kerala) and JEEViKA (Bihar) converge entitlements, insurance and marketing support onto SHG members.
• The Lakhpati Didi initiative targets 3 crore SHG women earning over ₹1 lakh annually; more than 1 crore have already crossed the threshold.

Women's empowerment

• Control over savings and credit strengthens women's intra-household bargaining power and mobility.
• SHGs are political nurseries: many women panchayat representatives began as SHG leaders, and groups have led campaigns against liquor, dowry and child marriage.
• New roles — Bank Sakhi, BC Sakhi, Krishi Sakhi, Namo Drone Didi — create visible, skilled livelihoods.
• During COVID-19, SHGs produced masks, ran community kitchens and sustained last-mile delivery, demonstrating institutional resilience.

Credit adequacy, uneven regional spread and slow graduation to enterprises remain challenges, yet as an indigenous innovation the SBLP has proved that organising poor women around thrift and credit is among India's most effective anti-poverty and empowerment strategies.