An Investigation of Micro Finance in Economic Development through Women Empowerment: With Special Emphasis to Bihar State

Abstract

Microfinance in India dates to the early 1970s, when the Gujarat Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) established the Shri Mahila SEWA Sahakari Bank as an Urban Cooperative Bank with the goal of providing banking services to disadvantaged women working in the unorganised sector in Ahmedabad. Since independence, the Indian government has placed a strong emphasis on providing financial services to the poor and underprivileged. In 1969, the Indian government nationalised commercial banks and ordered them to lend at a reduced rate to the priority sector, which comprised agriculture and other rural businesses, as well as the poorer sections of society in general. Small Farmers Development Scheme (SFDS) 1974-75, Twenty Point Programme (TPP) 1975, National Rural Development Programme (NRDP) 1980, Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) 1980, Rural Landless. Women's empowerment has been viewed as both a cause and an effect of economic development and growth. When more women work, economies also develop parallelly. This paper reflects an investigation of micro finance in economic development through women empowerment in Bihar State.