Lok Sabha Question No. 380 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-22
Subject: Self-Help Groups under NRLM
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Smt. Roopkumari Choudhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 380 ANSWERED ON 22/07/2025

## SELF-HELP GROUPS UNDER NRLM

## 380. SMT. ROOPKUMARI CHOUDHARY:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of women  connected with Self-Help Groups (SHGs) under  National  Rural  Livelihood  Mission  (NRLM)  so  far  in  the country;
- (b) the number of SHGs proactive under NRLM in Chhattisgarh at present including the number of women benefitted through the same;
- (c) the details of special schemes or financial assistance provided for under NRLM to promote women entrepreneurship;
- (d) the  details  of  major  challenges  faced  by  the  Government  in effective implementation of NRLM in the rural areas particularly in the backward areas;
- (e) whether the Government has developed any monitoring mechanism or evaluation system to carry out quality, transparency  and  performance  evaluation  of  SHGs,  if  so,  the structure thereof; and
- (f) the  names  of  portals,  apps  or  digital  platform  developed  for digital implementation of NRLM used at village level?

## ANSWER

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

- (a): DeendayalAntyodayaYojana -National Rural Livelihoods Mission  (DAY  -  NRLM)  is  a  poverty  alleviation  programme  of  the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), which was launched in June, 2011.  It  is  being  implemented  across  the  country  (except  Delhi  & Chandigarh) with the objective of organizing the rural poor households into Self Help Groups (SHGs) and continuously nurturing and supporting them till they attain appreciable increase in income

over a period of time and improve their quality of life and come out of  abject  poverty.  So  far  10.05  crore  rural  women  household  have been  mobilized  into  more  than  90.90  lakh  Self-Help  Groups  in  the country.

- (b) In Chhattisgarh, 2.79 lakh SHGs are proactive under DAY-NRLM and at present, around 29.78 lakh women have benefitted from the programme across the state.
- (c) The details of special schemes and financial assistance provided under NRLM to promote women entrepreneurship are:
- (i)  Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) is a subscheme under DAY-NRLM which aims to support  SHGs and their family members in establishing small enterprises in the non-farm sector.  SVEP  has  a  provision  to  support  beneficiary  households, through the Community Enterprise Fund  to partially meet the cost of setting up the enterprise while  the remaining cost is expected to be contributed by the beneficiary, from her own savings or bank credit. Under SVEP, 3.74 lakh enterprises are supported as of 30 th June 2025.
- (ii)  Micro-Enterprise  Development  (MED):  This  sub-component focuses  on  supporting  nano  enterprises  by  enabling  access  to finance, skill  development,  and  market  linkages, creating a conducive ecosystem for small-scale rural entrepreneurship. Under MED component 63,000 enterprises have been supported as of 30 th  June 2025.
- (iii)  One  Stop  Facility  (OSF):  The  OSF  sub-component  aims  to provide advanced support to growth-stage nano enterprises. This includes  assistance  with  compliance,  access  to  larger  markets, bank  credit,  product  development,  and  standardization.  Under OSF 88,000 enterprises have been supported as of 30 th  June 2025.
- (iv)  Incubator:  The  incubator  initiative  is  designed  to  scale  up 100-150  existing  women-owned  or  women-led  growth-oriented enterprises  in  each  State,  creating  replicable  models.  Selected enterprises receive extensive mentorship and ecosystem support. Under this  initiative  600  enterprises  have  been   supported  as  of 30 th  June 2025.

- (v)  Cluster  Development  Programme:  This  component  aims  to promote  collective  growth  by  leveraging  synergies  and  shared resources to enhance competitiveness and reduce market risks. The programme supports artisan and sector-specific clusters with market  potential  and  provides  access  to  technical  support  for business  planning,  linkages,  financing,  and  skill  upgradation.  21 clusters with 11,000 entrepreneurs/artisans have been supported under this initiative as of 30 th  June 2025.
- (vi)  AajeevikaGrameen  Express  Yojana  (AGEY):  AGEY  aims  to enhance rural transport connectivity by providing safe, affordable, and  community-monitored  transport  services  in  remote  villages. The scheme enables SHG members or Community-Based Organisations  (CBOs)  to  own  and  operate  vehicles  for  rural transport.  A  total  of  2297  vehicles  have  been  sanctioned  under AGEY.
- (vii)  Capitalization  support  is  provided  in  the  form  of  Revolving Fund (RF) at the rate of Rs. 20,000-30,000 per SHG and Community Investment  Fund (CIF)  to  the  extent  of  Rs.  2,50,000  per  SHG  to support their income generating and livelihood activities including entrepreneurial  ventures.  As  of  30th  June  2025  a  total  of  Rs. 58714.44  Crore  of  capitalization  support  has  been  provided  to SHGs and their federations since inception.
- (d)  DAY-NRLM  is  a  major  poverty  alleviation   initiative  which  has expanded its reach to 7,145 blocks across 745 districts nationwide. So  far,  the  mission  has  mobilized  10.05  crore  rural  poor  women households, forming them into 90.90 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs). The process of bringing women from rural households into the SHG fold is a continuous and aims at achieving saturation in an area.
- (e)  Yes, the Government has developed the monitoring mechanism to  track  and  evaluate  the  overall  implementation  of  DAY-NRLM activities for SHGs, the details are:
1.      Monitoring through MIS data: DAY-NRLM has a centralized MIS in  which data entry is enabled right from the block level. The MIS data  is  used  for  monitoring  progress  at  various  levels  of  program implementation.
2.      Reviews with the SRLMs: All states' performance is reviewed on a quarterly basis at the senior level of administration. This is a continuous mechanism to undertake corrective action as and when required.

3.   Performance Review Committee Meeting (PRC): The performance  of  the  programme  is  also  reviewed  with  the  state teams  on  a  half-yearly  basis  during  the  PRC  Meetings  of  the Ministry.
4.      National Level Monitors, Common  Review Missions and Officers of the Ministry visit States/UTs at regular interval to review implementation of the programme. After the field visits, the findings/shortcomings  and  recommendations  are  shared  with  the States/UTs for appropriate action at their end.

The Ministry has commissioned several impact evaluation studies to understand the overall impact of the DeendayalAntyodayaYojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM). An impact evaluation study of DAY-NRLM was conducted during 2019-20 by the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) with the support of the World Bank. The assessment covered 9 states with around 27,000 respondents and 5,000 SHGs across  Bihar,  West  Bengal,  Odisha,  Jharkhand,  Madhya  Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The evaluation indicates that an additional exposure to the Mission for 2.5 years led to:

- i.
- Increase in income by 19% over the base amount.
- ii.
- iii.
- Decline in share of informal loans by 20%
- Increase in savings by 28%
- iv. Improved  labour  force  participation  -  proportion  of  females reporting  secondary  occupation  is  higher  (4%) in  treatment areas.
- v. Improved  access  to  other  Schemes  -  Significant  increase  in number  of  social  schemes  availed  by  treatment  households (6.5% higher over the base value of 2.8 schemes).

These monitoring and evaluation exercises are a crucial step in ensuring that the programme is effectively reaching and benefiting SHG women, as intended, and support evidence-based improvements in the programme.

- f) Following Apps and portals are being used at village level as part of digital initiatives under NRLM.
2. i.
3. ii.
4. LokoS App and lokos.in web portal
5. VPRP App

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