Self Help Group Bank Linkage Programme (SHG BLP), the pioneering initiative of Financial Inclusion by NABARD completed 25 years during this year and is well poised to deliver the savings and credit services at the doorstep of rural poor especially women through their self-managed institutions called SHGs. Commemorating this occasion, NABARD has dedicated its 36th Foundation Day to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of SHG Bank Linkage Programme.  Since its pilot stage in 1992, the SHG Programme has come a long way in covering more than 10 crore rural families. As on 31st March, 2017 these groups had savings of more than ₹ 16,000 crore in banks and double of that amount in their internal lending. The Program had a catalytic effect in sourcing collateral free loans to the tune of ₹ 61,000 crore to these poor women from the mainstream banking system at the normal rates of interest. With more than 8.5 crore rural women as the direct participants in this mass movement, NABARD will be celebrating the Silver Jubilee of SHG BLP at Vigyan Bhavan in national capital tomorrow i.e. 11th July, 2017.

The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has kindly consented to be the Chief Guest and the programme would be attended by Senior Officials of Central and State Governments, RBI etc. Besides, the programme is being attended by the Channel partners especially Banks, NGOs etc., who collaborated with NABARD in making SHG Bank Linkage Programme as the World’s largest.

On this occasion, NABARD is felicitating the Policy makers, Thought Leaders, Self Help Promoting Institutions, Banks and above all few leaders among women who owned this concept and made lives of their hapless sisters’ smoother by creating avenues for sustainable livelihoods.

Financial inclusion expansion via SHG bank linkages increases access to collateral-free credit and savings for rural women. Self Help Group Bank Linkage Programme (SHG BLP) is a large-scale financial inclusion initiative that mobilises savings and delivers collateral-free credit to rural women through self-managed SHGs linked with mainstream banks; it aggregates over ten crore rural families, facilitates group bank deposits and internal lending, and relies on NABARD's promotion and partnerships with banks and NGOs to expand access to regulated banking services and normal-rate credit for underserved rural women.