Microfinance aims to empower women through providing access to financial services. It focuses on women because they make up 70% of the world's poor and register higher repayment rates than men. Microfinance helps empower women by increasing their household income, providing opportunities for children, and allowing women to meet family needs without male assistance. Challenges include lack of capital and business knowledge. These are addressed through training programs and self-help groups that provide social and financial support. Successful examples like the Lijjat Papad women's cooperative demonstrate how microfinance can economically empower thousands of women.

2. CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• WHY TARGETING WOMEN?
• MICRO-FINANCE
• GENDER FOCUS IN MICRO-FINANCE
• REPAYMENT RATES
• ROLE IN WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
• MICRO-FINANCE INSTRUMENTS
• MICRO-FINANCE INSTITUTIONS
• BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
• CASE STUDY

4. INTRODUCTION
Women Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual,
political, social, educational, gender, or economic strength of
individuals and communities of women.
Women’s empowerment in India is heavily dependent on many
different variables that include geographical location
(urban/rural), educational status, social status (caste and class)
and age.

5. 1
• As the 70% of world’s poor are women targeting women
borrowers make sense from a public policy standpoint.
2
• The business case for focusing on female client is
substantial, as they register higher repayment rates.
3
• They contributes larger portion of the income to
household consumption than their male counterparts.
4
• Children of women micro-finance borrowers also reap
the benefits, as there is an increased likelihood of fool-
time school enrolment & lower drop out rates.
WHY TARGET WOMEN

8. NEED FOR WOMEN
EMPOWERMENT
Women are deprived of:
• Decision making power
• Freedom of Movement
• Access to Education
• Access to Employment
• Exposure to Media
• Domestic Violence

10.  Microfinance is a type of banking service that is provided to
unemployed or low income individuals or group who have no access
to financial service.
 Institutions participating in the area of microfinance are most
often associated with lending microloans.
 Delivery is normally through Self Help Groups (SHG).
 It is not just a financing system, but a tool for social change,
specially for women below the poverty line.
 The loan is provided at the lowest possible rates to women
entrepreneurs.
 Women are provided proper training on business and
entrepreneurial skills.

11. GENDER FOCUS IN
MICRO FINANCE
Many microfinance programs focus entirely on women
because of various assumptions:
– Women are important in poverty alleviation and hence for
economic development
– Women form a large proportion of the poor
– Women spend more of their income on their families and
hence a focus on women improves the welfare of the whole
family.
– A focus on women empowers women.

12. CURRENT STATUS OF MICRO
FINANCE
• 800 MFIs are working in India.
• As on today 8 Million SHGs are linked to banks.
• 6.29 million SHGs are exclusively for women.
Particulars 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14
No. of
SHGs
(lakh)
Amt.
(crore)
No. of
SHGs
(lakh)
Amt.
(crore)
No. of
SHGs
(lakh)
Amt.
(crore)
No. of
SHGs
(lakh)
Amt.
(crore)
Savings 45.64 44.43 53.10 44.98 60.98 5298 62.99 5104
Bank Loan
Disbursed
13.75 10527 12.94 12429 10.17 12622 9.23 14132
LOANS ISSUED TO WOMEN SHGs BY BANKS

13. REPAYMENT RATES
• Women are better about repaying loans.
• According to studies, 15.3% of male borrowers struggled to
repay loans, while only 1.3% of women were having
difficulties.
• Female borrowing groups misuse funds less often.
• The choice of investment projects, such as tending to goats,
sewing, baking goods, handcrafts or keeping a small shop may
be easier to monitor.

14. ROLE IN WOMEN
EMPOWERMENT
 Women have been the vulnerable section of society and
constitute a sizeable segment of the poverty-struck
population and face gender specific barriers to access
education health, employment etc.
 Since women’s empowerment is the key to socio economic
development of the community; bringing women into the
mainstream of national development has been a major
concern of government.
 The ministry of rural development has special components
for women in its programs. Funds are earmarked as
“Women’s Component” to ensure flow of adequate
resources for the same.

15. CONT..
• 87% women affirmed that, through microfinance, they were
able to increase their household income.
• Also, 20% of women claimed that through microfinance they
were able to provide better opportunities for their children,
main educational and 13% advanced the fact that they were
able to secure the basic living needs of their families without
the financial assistance or help of their husbands,
• Improved social life is another strong point for microfinance in
favor of women entrepreneurs in general.

16. MICRO FINANCE INSTRUMENTS
FOR WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
 Micro Finance is emerging as a powerful instrument for
poverty alleviation in the new economy. In India, micro finance
scene is dominated by Self Help Groups (SHGs) – Bank Linkage
Programme, aimed at providing a cost effective mechanism for
providing financial services to the “unreached poor”.
 Perception for women is that learning to manage money and
rotate funds builds women’s capacities and confidence to
intervene in local governance beyond the limited goals of
ensuring access to credit. Further, it combines the goals of
financial sustainability with that of creating community owned
institutions.

18. MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS
FOR WOMEN
• SKS Microfinance
• Bandhan
• Share Microfin Limited
• Asmitha Microfin
• Spandana Sphoorty
• Micro Credit
• Grameen Financial
SOURCE: Crisil Report

19. OBSTACLES IN
WOMEN
EMPOWERMENT

20. CHALLENGES
 Lack of working capital
 High interest rates
 Lack of knowledge of market and potential profitability,
thus making the choice of business difficult.
 Inventory and inflation accounting is never undertaken
 Credit policies that can gradually ruin their business(many
customers cannot pay cash and suppliers are very harsh
towards women).

21. OVERCOMING
CHALLENGES
• Creating the Importance of Entrepreneurship program and
skills training, and Micro Financial support under single roof.
• MFIs provide their microfinance clients different set of skills
for successfully running enterprises.
• Encouraging women entrepreneur to utilize the loans for
productive purposes and have the potential to become
entrepreneur.
• Establishing a network of SHG to serve as a “self-help
community” for micro enterprises development activities.
• Social recognition of women leading an enterprise.
• Developing female mentors, trainers and advisors.
• Establishing sources of credit.

22. WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN INDIA
Earlier there were 3 Ks
- Kitchen
- Kids
- Knitting
Then came 3 Ps
- Powder
- Papad
- Pickles
At present there are 5 Es
-Electricity
-Electronics
-Engineering
-Entrepreneurship
-Energy

23. Shri Mahila Griha
Udyog Lijjat Papad
Type Worker cooperative
Industry Papads,
soaps and detergents,
bakery products,
masala (spices)
and flour
Founded Mumbai, Maharashtra
(15 March 1959)
Headquarters Mumbai, India
Key people Swati Paradkar,President
No. of
employees 43000 (2015)
Website www.lijjat.com

24. SHRI MAHILA GRIHA UDYOG
LIJJAT PAPAD
• An Indian women's cooperative involved in manufacturing of
various fast-moving consumer goods.
•The organization's main objective is empowerment of women
by providing them employment opportunities.
• Started in the year 1959 with a seed capital of Rs. 80. Today,
Lijjat has an annual turnover of around Rs. 6.50 billion with Rs.
290 million exports and provides employment to around 43,000
people.
• Lijjat is headquartered in Mumbai and has 81 branches and 27
divisions all over India.
• Lijjat is primarily a cottage industry, urban by its origin, which
has spread to the rural areas.

25. • Women Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual,
political, social, educational, gender, or economic strength
of individuals and communities of women.
• The greatest need of hour is to change the social attitude of
women.
• The goal of microfinance is to give people an opportunity to
become self-sufficient by getting self- employment,
especially the women.
• Women are better about repaying loans
• According to studies,15.3% of male borrowers struggled to
repay loans, while only 1.3% of women were having
difficulties.

26. CONT..
 Women’s empowerment is the key to socio economic
development of the community.
 87% women affirmed that, through microfinance, they
were able to increase their household income.
 Micro Finance is emerging as a powerful instrument for
poverty alleviation in the new economy.
 It is considered as one of the most remarkable
entrepreneurial initiatives by women that is identified with
female empowerment in India.

27. Thank You