Lok Sabha Question No. 4237 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-19
Subject: Scope of Lakhpati Didi Yojana
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Avimanyu Sethi, Shri Tejasvi Surya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4237

## ANSWERED ON 19/08/2025

## SCOPE OF LAKHPATI DIDI YOJANA

4237. Shri Tejasvi Surya: Shri AvimanyuSethi:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the  total  number  of  women  who  have  benefited  from  the 'LakhpatiDidi' Yojana since its starting in the country;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to expand the scope of the said Yojana in the upcoming Union Budget to focus not only on income generation but also on other significant impacts, if so, the details thereof and the steps taken in this regard;
- (c) whether the Government also proposes to enhance access to credit and microfinance facilities under the scheme to further empower rural women; and
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  achievements  of  the LakhpatiDidiYojana  in  the  State  of  Odisha,  district-wise  and the steps taken in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. CHANDRA SEKHAR PEMMASANI)

- (a): LakhpatiDidi is an outcome of the DeendayalAntyodayaYojana -National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM),  a Centrally Sponsored Scheme scheme of this Ministry. LakhpatiDidi initiative is  aimed  to  empower  and  enable  Self-Help  Groups  (SHG)  Women under the Mission, and earn a minimum income of Rupees one lakh per  annum  on  a  sustainable  basis,  for  at  least  4  agricultural seasons  and/  or  business  cycles. Under  DAY-NRLM,  so  far,  10.05 crore  rural  households  have  been  mobilized  into  90.90  Lakhs  Self Help  Groups  (SHGs).  More  than  1.48  crore  SHG  members  have become LakhpatiDidis, so far.
- (b): LakhpatiDidi is an initiative and not a scheme.  Therefore, no specific  budget  is  allocated  for  LakhpatiDidi  initiative.  However, allocation  of  the  DAY-NRLM  scheme  has  been  increased  from Rs.15,047Crore  in  year  2024-25  to  Rs.  19,005.00  Crore  for  year

2025-26.  This  enhanced  budget  is  aimed  to  empower  the  SHG members economically and also facilitate women led rural development, and for their social and financial inclusion.

- (c) & (d): DAY-NRLM is providing access to credit and microfinance  facilities  to  empower  women  through  various  steps which are as follows:
- (i)  Funds are provided to SHGs in the form of Revolving Fund (RF) and  Community  Investment  Fund  (CIF)  to  help  them  in  creating  a corpus,  from  which  the  SHG  members  can  avail  loans  for  various purposes.
- (ii)  The  SHGs  are  also  facilitated  for  Bank  linkage  for  accessing credit at subsidized rates of interest. Since 2013-14, the SHGs have been assisted to access Bank credit of Rs. 10 lakh crores, so far. The master circular for providing credit to women SHGs are issued by  the  Reserve  Bank  of  India/National  Bank  for  Agriculture  and Rural Development (NABARD).
- (iii) SHG members are also imparted financial literacy skills through trainings on accounting, record-keeping, budgeting, and loan management etc.
- (iv)  Start-up  Village  Entrepreneurship  Programme  (SVEP),  a  subscheme under the DAY-NRLM program supports and facilitates the SHGs and their family members to set-up small enterprises in the non-farm  sector,  create  an  eco-system  of  entrepreneurship  in  a block  by  providing  trainings  and  hand-holding  support  through  the Community  Resource  Person  for  Enterprise  promotion  (CRP-EP), finance  through  Community  Enterprise  Fund  (CEF),  domain  and business  related  mentorship  under  a  single  roof  called  Block Resource Centre (BRC), Operated and Managed by the community. As of June 2025, 3.74 lakh enterprises have been supported under SVEP.

In Odisha, more than 7.80 lakh SHG members have been enabled as LakhpatiDidi. The initiative focusses on the individual SHG women. In  the  entire  process  of  planning,  implementation  and  monitoring, the community institution structures i.e. SHGs, Village Organizations (VOs) and Cluster Level Federations (CLFs) spearhead  the  engagements.  A  structured  approach  has  been adopted  to make  the  SHG  members  Lakhpati.   The  initiative also facilitates  enhancing  financial  literacy,  training  and  support and  convergence  across  government  departments  as  well as

building entrepreneurial capacity among SHG women, for social and financial inclusion.

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