What happened (reported action plan and reported outcomes)

The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) described an action plan under the Lakhpati Didi initiative, an initiative linked to Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). The initiative aims to empower Self-Help Group (SHG) women to earn a minimum income of rupees one lakh per annum on a sustainable basis for at least 4 agricultural seasons and/or business cycles.

MoRD reported the scale of SHG mobilisation and the reported spread of “Lakhpati Didis” enabled through DAY-NRLM’s SHG ecosystem.

The reported ecosystem includes (1) entrepreneurship support through Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), (2) credit and microfinance access through SHG revolving and community investment funds and bank linkage, (3) digital financial access through SHG women as Banking Correspondent “Sakhi” (BC Sakhi), and (4) market access for SHG products through the Saras branding and the eSaras e-commerce platform.

Background and earlier position (DAY-NRLM framework behind Lakhpati Didi)

DAY-NRLM is described as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented by MoRD in partnership with States and Union Territories (UTs), except Chandigarh and Delhi. DAY-NRLM’s stated objective is to improve the livelihoods of poor rural households and organise rural households into SHGs for social and financial inclusion.

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