The Ministry of Rural Development, under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), reports nationwide formation of women Self Help Groups (SHGs) and a parallel financial inclusion package for women SHG members. DAY-NRLM couples financial literacy training delivered through Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) and banks with dedicated institutional credit products for individual women SHG members under the Lakhpati Didi initiative, and it tracks women-SHG product turnover through Saras Aajeevika Stores and e-commerce platforms for financial year 2025–26.

What happened

DAY-NRLM’s current reporting highlights four linked elements: (1) formation of 92 lakh women SHGs covering 10.05 crore rural women; (2) launch and delivery of a Financial Literacy Programme with partnership among RSETIs and banks; (3) village-level financial literacy camps conducted by Financial Literacy Community Resource Persons covering modules on financial planning, savings, credit, insurance, pension, enterprise financing, and business correspondence; and (4) bank-designed dedicated credit products for individual women SHG members to support enterprise creation or expansion under the Lakhpati Didi initiative. The same reporting also provides turnover figures for women SHG products marketed through Saras Aajeevika Stores and e-commerce platforms in financial year 2025–26.

Background and earlier position

DAY-NRLM operational model uses women SHGs as a community platform for building livelihoods and improving access to resources. In this framework, financial inclusion depends on both capability building (financial planning, risk management, and enterprise financing knowledge) and access to institutional finance for starting or scaling micro-enterprises.

What changed now

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