CHAPTER – 5

FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

FINDINGS

1. 95.5% of the members are female and 4.5% of them are male. Self Help Groups
focus on women.

2. Majority of the members are below 45 years of age. Self Help Groups should also
target people above 45 years of age. They are potential members.

3. Majority of the members in the Self Help Groups live in families of 5 or more. It
is focused on above families with 5 or more.

4. 76% of the members have studied up to the High school level. So the majority of
the members are educated in the SHG.

5. Majority of the members are knowledgeable about the SHG through other
members.

6. The dominant reason for joining an SHG is to avail loans at lower rates of
interest, pursue a career and to create long term savings

7. Majority of the members have been with SHG’s under 6 years.

8. Majority of the members are in SHG’s with 17-20 members.

9. 71.5% of the members underwent training. In these 11% of the members went
through the health training, 12.5% of the members were given the community
service training, 15.5% of the members were given the financing services training,
and 64.5% of the members were given the vocational training.

10. Majority of the members have a business whose nature is to manufacture and sell.

11. 53% of the members are in a partnership in their business. Majority of the
partners have below 7 members.

12. Majority of the members have borrowed loans above Rs 30000.

13. Majority of the members have borrowed at least 3 loans from bank.

14. 44% of the members have utilized the money borrowed for business expansion.
15. 62.5% of the members obtained interest rates of 11-12%.

16. Majority of the members had a repayment period of 2-3years.

17. 87.5 % of the members did not miss any installments. In the remainder of the
population, majority of the members who missed the monthly installments were
below 8 months.

18. Majority of the members were earning before involvement with SHG. The
earnings were below Rs 1000 and after involvement with SHG’s the value was
below Rs 2000.

19. Majority of the members had no savings before involvement with SHG’s and after
involvement with SHG’s the figure was below Rs 100.

20. Majority of the members were facing financing problems to grow their business.

21. Majority of the members were borrowed from money lenders and friends &
relation when it is before involvement with SHG.92.5% of the members are
borrowed loan from banks it is after involvement with SHG.

22. Majority of the members influenced for availing a loan through SHG mentioned
that the factor is a low rate of interest.

23. 63% of the members have improved food quality, 51.5% of the members have
improved housing status and 63% of the members have improved children’s
education which represents a standard of living after their involvement with a
SHG.

24. 50% of the members agreed that they were empowered and 38.5% of the
members strongly agreed that they were empowered and 11% of the members
were neutral after their involvement with a SHG.

25. 100% of the members encouraged others to join an SHG.

 SUGGESTIONS

1. Rate of interest on loans needs to be reduced.

2. Loan amounts need to be increased depending on their views.

3. Governments need to create marketing opportunities to expand their business.

4. If loan amounts are high for more members in a group it will create a good
relationship between them.

5. Vocational training needs to be increased to create chances to start a business

venture.

6. Educational training need to be increased for creating the awareness and getting
the knowledge.

7. Community service and health training needs to be increased to spread

community values

8. Banks should define the borrowed amount and profits can be divided within the
group without quarrels because it will create more profit to them.

9. Needs to increase the awards for the groups that are functioning well to create
encouragement for those groups.

10. Need to increase quicker processing to sanction loans.

11. The government should reduce the NGO’s domination of unnecessary activities.

12. Loan should sanction those who are there under the poverty line and those who
originally wanted to do business to improve the standard of living and getting
empowered

13. The members may be given training on managerial and leadership skills and may
be motivated to present themselves in panchayat elections to take part in the
political activities

14. The SHG members may be motivated to prepare annual action plans in their
group which will be useful in planning their activities efficiently.

15. The members must be motivated to involve legislation in developmental activities

for the betterment of their community
 CONCLUSIONS

The study was undertaken to study the impact of micro finance on Self Help
Groups in Vellore district. At a global level, Micro finance is the strongest tool for
eradicating poverty. The growth rate for eradicating the poverty and women being
empowered is beyond imagination.

Through Health training, community service training, Financing services training,

vocational training rural people obtain the knowledge on how we live and co-operate
with others so it is very helpful to improve self- realization. This will improve good
relationship within the community which helps attain business motives.

It is found that the income and savings of women have increased after joining the
SHGs. One of the characteristics of the women in SHGs is the repayment of the loan at
the right time. Nearly 87.5% of the debtors paid the monthly due within time. A few
members do not pay in time but this does not affect the overall credit of the SHGs since
the repayment of loan is regular and within time.

Nearly 63% of the members have improved the food quality, 51.5% of the members
have improved housing status and 63% of the members have improved children’s
education which is strong indications that poverty has been reduced in the study area.
Majority of the members (specifically women) get the empowerment through the SHG.

We may conclude that the economic activities of SHGs are quite successful. In this
way SHGs in Vellore district are very successful to develop women’s empowerment in
rural areas.