The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), one of the flagship programmes of the Government of India for building community-based institutions in rural areas and linking them with sustainable livelihoods. Over the past one and a half decades, the Mission has mobilised more than 10 crore rural women into over 93 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs) and their federations. The banking sector has been a key partner in this journey, with cumulative credit disbursement of over Rs. 13.67 lakh crore to SHGs, backed by consistently high repayment discipline.

The strong flow of institutional credit has enabled a large number of SHG members to establish and expand livelihood enterprises, with 3.46 crore women emerging as Lakhpati Didis. As many of these enterprises enter a growth phase and new ventures continue to emerge, the Mission's next strategic priority is to nurture women-led enterprises, strengthen their access to finance and support their transition into sustainable rural businesses.

A High-Level Meeting with Banks and State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs) on SHG-Bank Linkages and Individual Enterprise Financing is being held on 3 September 2026 at Mumbai. The meeting is being chaired by Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare and Rural Development. Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Union Minister of State of Rural Development and Communications, Shri Kamlesh Paswan, Hon’ble Minister of State of Rural Development, and the Hon'ble Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Government of Maharashtra, will also be present.

The meeting will be attended by senior representatives from the Reserve Bank of India, the Department of Financial Services, Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks, NABARD, PFRDA, Central Ministries, State Rural Livelihoods Missions and other key stakeholder institutions.

Ahead of the review, the Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare and Rural Development will hold an extended interaction with Self Help Group Didis, several of them Lakhpati Didis running established rural enterprises.

Managing Directors and Executive Directors of Public and Private Sector Banks, Chairmen of Regional Rural Banks and Apex Cooperative Banks, and Chief Executive Officers of State Rural Livelihoods Missions will share their reflections on the progress achieved and the way forward. The discussions will focus, inter alia, on doubling the individual enterprise credit portfolio, enhancing the average quantum of disbursement to SHGs, reducing turnaround time in loan sanction and disbursement, strategies for saturating credit linkage of the remaining SHGs including in difficult regions, and strengthening the role of the cooperative credit structure at the District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB) and Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) level.

The deliberations will feed into the future plan of action towards implementation of the Financial Inclusion 2.0 vision, aimed at ensuring timely and adequate credit for SHGs, dedicated financing for women-led enterprises and expanded access to higher-order financial services in rural India.

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RC/PU