Micro Loan Success Stories
Micro Loans Have Changed India
April 6, 2011 | 
Author How Micro Loans have changed India
Dola Tikader lives in the village of Bankura in West Bengal. For years, she has struggled to make ends meet with her family’s craft of making beaded jewelry. But now Dola is free of most of her financial troubles, is working on expanding her business and has employed 9 other women from her village as well. All of them make a decent income and are generally quite a happy bunch. How has this been possible?
Well, the thing that made this huge difference was a micro loan. Dola got a micro loan of Rs 15,000 from an MFI working in her village and she used it smartly. First she got trained in the Self Help Group (SHG ) initiative where she learnt all about making fancy costume jewelry and updated herself on the latest styles and trends women in Calcutta prefer. After that she used the micro loan to get the raw material required and started producing jewelry. She sold her hand- made jewelry to sellers in Calcutta and made a decent profit. And then she employed other women from her village in her business as well.
It may sound corny, but micro loans and other micro financing have actually changed India. The success rate of SHGs’ who have availed of micro loans is so high that it makes loan sharks look bad. The repayment of micro loans has been estimated to be more than 97%, which is very good by any standards. As support for micro loans keep increasing, so does their influence.
Posted in Micro Loan Success Stories | 
Tags: india, loan, MFI, micro loan, micro loan india, micro loans in india, Micro Loans India, Microloan, Microloans in India, SHG | 
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Micro Loan Repayments
How micro loans have made entrepreneurs out of supposedly simple rural people
The truth about human beings is that everyone is a born entrepreneur. Everyone has the desire of doing something on his own, but few people actually get the chance to do it. The problem is obviously money. Poverty in a third world country like India had become a vicious cycle; a trap that promised to kill whoever dared to cross its path. The poor people had all the initiative in the world, but where would they get the money to do anything? This is the premise which made Professor Mohammad Yunus start the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh in making micro loans available to economically- disadvantaged people. India borrowed the example and developed MFIs to give out micro loans to mainly rural women, though men were not left out.
A micro loan can do wonders for a person belonging to a low- income background. As said earlier, poor people don’t lack the initiative, all they need is the money. Once they got hold of micro loans, they had the freedom of starting their own small home- based businesses. Women engaged themselves in making stuffed toys, pickles, detergents, soaps, chapattis, etc. while men set up small shops or started a woodworking business.
Micro loans in India mark a turning point. The supposedly simple rural folk with nothing to show on their resumes became entrepreneurs. Their success can be easily measured by the 97% repayment of micro loans MFI’s in India have calculated. With micro loans in India, it’s been success all the way!
Micro Loan Success In Jharkhand
Women in Jharkhand become self- dependent with the help of micro loans
Micro loans in India have helped pave the way for empowerment of women throughout the country. Success stories from far- flung villages of India have made micro loans the buzzword in rural economy. At one time, these women had nothing to do except household work and looking after children. But now they are starting businesses and helping their own families economically and also employing other people as well. A small village called Gumla in Jharkhand has a success story that speaks highly of what micro loans and Self Help Group (SHG) initiatives have achieved so far.
Gumla is a tribal village with mostly economically – disadvantaged people. The district administration gave women from this village training in a variety of vocations such as making of soaps, pickles, detergents, and phenol. The training went on for 15 days after which they were given the option of being able to avail of a micro loan. Most women who underwent the training started their own home- based businesses or joined another SHG and started earning their living. One of the women is Nita Kumari who has joined an SHG and she makes pickles everyday. She is happy that she has been able to improve her family’s condition a lot.
Micro loans have actually enabled people like Nita Kumari to actually do something on their own and become self- reliant. Perhaps more than the money is the self- confidence that a micro loan can give to these simple folks.
Posted in Micro Loan Success Stories | Tags: gumla, home based business, jharkhand, micro loan, Micro Loan Success, micro loans, Microloan, SHG | No Comments »
Rural Micro Loan Success
Rural women’s success story tastes sweet: What micro loans in India have achieved
Since the early 90’s of the previous century, micro loans in India have continued to become more and more important to the social and economic structure. Till its advent, it was not considered that poor women from villages could actually become self- reliant and become the breadwinner of their families. But now, this is a reality; not a far-fetched dream. The success of micro loans in the country has been unprecedented as more women from far- flung parts of the country are coming forward to set up small- scale cottage industries with the help of micro loans financed by Micro Financing Institutions (MFI’s).
One such success story is that of a Self Help Group (SHG) in Tamil Nadu which involves women in making a particular variety of milk sweets and sells them in the market. The special sweet is called ‘Palkova’ and is made with milk and sugar as its main ingredients. The sweet is sold not only to the locals, but also to people in Bangalore, Erode and Coimbatore. The very fact that people from such big cities are buying the sweets proves that the SHG women are doing a great job. Shops, retailers and even corporate offices are falling for the Palkova!
All this success has been made possible with the help of a micro loan that this SHG obtained. Truly, the advent of micro loans in India has ushered in a new era of economic empowerment of the rural women.
Micro Loan Success In Tamil Nadu
Women in Tamil Nadu become financially independent with Micro loans
Micro loans in India have ushered in an era of independence among poor rural women. The micro loan schemes have specially benefited the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu where women from low- income families have come forward to take part in Self Help Group (SHG) initiatives. The SHG’s are helped financially by both by the central and state governments by letting them avail micro loans easily. Krishnagiri district has written yet another success story of the SHG’s and micro loans in India.
In this district, cottage industries have been set up to cater to the needs of rural women. One such SHG involves 20 women who spend their days making soft toys and beautiful accessories. These women have been taught how to make beautiful articles with their hands and they earn a decent Rs 100 to Rs 110 for each day of work. This translates to about Rs 3000 a month. The women are also taught regularly to update their skills and increase their repertoire. They learn the latest designs in soft toys and accessories, which help them keep in sync with the demands of the market.
Not only do the SHG volunteers help the women with training, but also for availing micro loans from Micro Financing Institutions (MFI’s). They also organize fairs and exhibitions to show off the handiwork of the women and make sales regularly. Their success story has shown what a micro loan can do for the poor, disadvantaged, disabled and minority community.