The Women’s Self-Help Group (SHG) schemes are turning out to be a huge success in the rural areas resulting in a tripling of incomes with 65 per cent SHG members turning into Lakhpati Didis nationwide, according to an SBI report released on Tuesday.

The report sees Lakhpati Didis emerging as a game changer by 2026-27 across most states & UTs.

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Highlights of the report:

❑ Credit linkage, digital access and targeted policy measures, coupled with an unwavering sense of entrepreneurial spirit have ensured female SHG members accounts witnessing income tripling during FY19-FY24 (credits in accounts), with urban female members showing 4.6X increase while age group <27 years harnessing income increase of 4.7 times, a testimony to young nation theory…Most of the Female SHG members belong to the age of 35 to 50 years with median age of 43 years. ❑ Income has increased for SHG Members across the board… relative income analysis suggests around 65 per cent of rural SHG members have moved upwards in terms of relative income in FY24 when compared to FY19. ❑ All the regions, except metros have witnessed maximum increase in income of female SHG members belonging to 28 to 42 years in FY24 when compared to FY19….For metro regions, maximum increase is in age group <27 years. ❑ While Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are leaders in SHGs, other states like Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Punjab, Gujarat have also significantly increased female SHG incomes in recent times…Further, Female SHG members of Haryana, MP, West Bengal, and Jharkhand are expected to cross annual income of Rs 1 lakhs in 1 year…SHG members of UP, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan may take 2 more years in earning annual income of Rs 1 lakhs…by FY27, India will have millions of Lakhpati Didis in almost every state. ❑ Expenditure at ATM is nearly constant during FY19-23 for SHG members…Average SHG members spending at POS has increased by 1.7 times during FY20-FY23…Highest spending is observed in Urban and Metro region. ❑ When it comes to UPI, there are not much region-specific differences as the expenditure of rural SHG members and Metro SHG members is not that much different as observed in other measures….Share of P2M transactions in UPI transactions by SHG members has nearly doubled in four years, across four regions in the country signifying ease of digital payments for merchant payments permeating physical boundaries. ❑ Expenditure through Aadhar enabled system increased by at least 3 times in FY24 from FY23 in all regions.