Review of literature – Indian Context – Selective
Many research organizations, donor agencies, implementing agencies have conducted several studies, evaluations, impact studies and, assessments on SHGs and their federations across the country. And it is not possible to present a comprehensive review of all the research done so far. However, a brief overview of some of the large-scale studies conducted and published in the recent past is given below.
EDA Rural Systems and APMAS conducted a study “Self Help Groups in India: A Study of the lights and dark sides”.
The study looked at all relevant aspects of SHG functioning: membership, exclusion, drop-outs, maintenance of group records, equity within groups, default and recovery mechanisms, role of SHGs in local politics, role played by SHGs in addressing issues related to social justice and harmony and sustainability of SHGs with a clear objective of lessons learned from success and failures of SHGs. The study covered SHGs in nine districts from four states (two each from north and south India) of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa and Rajasthan. Over 50% of SHGs members were from families below poverty line, with a majority from SC and ST families; SHG leaders tend to be from better-off families; only 29% of the household in selected villages had a membership in an SHG; reasons for choosing not to join an SHG was primarily because of stringent norms followed by SHGs and about 10% dropped out due to migration. Though one member in every four SHGs contested local elections, their effectiveness once elected was not significantly better than the others.
However, SHGs did seem to contribute to social harmony as the composition of women in SHGs reflected different caste groups. Almost 40% of SHGs are weak in terms of maintenance of records as these systems were too complicated for members to maintain. With regard to lending practices, a fair amount of equity was practiced. However, some were found to be lending to non-members. The study indicated high levels of defaults in the prepayment of loans in South India due to the supply led-approach. The repayment of loans given to member from their savings was a major concern. Half of the SHGs under the study were operating in profits. However, due to high default and low interest rates, the financial value of the members’ savings could not be maintained. The study concludes that while there is a need to focus on quality rather than on quantity, expectations pinned on SHGs need to be realistic. Also, fundamental to the sustainability of SHGs is the feeling of ownership of members about the group.
A study conducted by NCAER in 2008, sought to assess the impact of the SHG Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP) on the socio-economic conditions of individual SHG members by comparing their pre and post SHG scenarios across six states in five different regions of India.
It concluded that the SBLP has positive impact on members by increasing their access to financial services (and reducing household poverty) as well as empowered women through an increase in their self confidence.
Salomo et. al (2010) did a research on Sustainability of SHG Federation Structures covering 12 SHG federations in six different states of India.
It opined that federating is needed for ensuring outreach, member ownership and governance, bottom up structured and linked multi-level systems, reduced dependency on external advisory and financial support, ability to face different environmental and socio-economic circumstances, and legal and regulatory framework.
A report on SHG Federations: Development Costs and Sustainability, by Girija Srinivasan and Tankha reported that the absence of savings and appropriate legal framework are the severe constraints on the financial viability of federations of SHGs (Srinivasan G., 2010).
According to NABARD’s publication Status of Microfinance in India 2011-12 there are disparities in the geographical spread of SHG bank linkage programme and credit deepening (NABARD, 2012). As on March 2012, out of 33 states, 22 states and union territories have less than 50% of SHGs having a savings bank account have a loan outstanding to banks; another 10 states have 50 to 80 percent of SHGs with loan outstanding; and only one state, namely Andhra Pradesh, has 80% percent of SHGs with loan outstanding to banks. The percentage of SHGs credit linked to bank is highest in Andhra Pradesh with 94% and lowest in the country in Arunachal Pradesh with 4%. Out of 33 states, 9 states & union territories namely, Andhra Pradesh (94%) Puducherry (76%), Tripura (74%), Bihar (73%), Jharkhand (71%) Odisha (58%), West Bengal (56%) and Tamilnadu (56%) and Himachal Pradesh (55%), have more than the national scenario (55%).
During the financial year 2011-12, the banks disbursed a total loan of Rs. 16,535 crores to 11,47,878 SHGs with an average of Rs. 144,046 per SHG (NABARD, 2012). The average amount of loan per SHG is highest in Andhra Pradesh with Rs. 215,875 and lowest in Lakshadweep with Rs. 14,375 when compared to all other states. Of the total 33 states and union territories, majority states & union territories’ average loan size is more than Rs. 100,000 (19) followed by Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 100,000 (12) and less than Rs. 50,000 (2). There is a wide difference in the average loan per SHG across the states/union territories.
Further, there are only six state/union territories namely Andhra Pradesh (Rs. 215,875), Puducherry (Rs. 194,230), Karnataka (Rs. 185,290), Haryana (Rs. 160,309), Kerala (154,620) and Uttarakhand (148,155) that have more than the national average of loan per SHG.
M S MEENA and K M SINGH studied Changing behaviour of self help group members: Pathway for sustainable rural livelihoods in Eastern India, Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 83 (8): 847–51, August 2013/Article ICAR Research Complex for Eastern Region, Patna, Bihar 800 014, Received: 5 May 2013; Revised accepted: 21 May 2013.
The study evaluates the behaviour construct of self help group (SHG) members. Conclusively the study reported that positive behaviour could play a great role in tackling the issues of rural poverty for improving sustainable livelihood security in eastern India. To achieve this rural livelihoods must assimilate the vital facets like:
- formation and stabilization of SHGs,
- pro-poor financial and credit support system,
- market-driven and decentralized extension system,
- diversification towards high-value enterprises,
- technological intervention and impact assessment,
- media-mix for technology transfer,
- frequent educational tour/visits and interaction with other SHGs and research institutes,
- developing leadership skills, and
- strong political will. Nevertheless, extension system needs to be re-oriented and revitalized with new agricultural knowledge base in emerging technologies and methodologies.