Lecturer,
This paper is an attempt to find out the working of SHGs linked bank credit in terms of areas, beneficiaries, volume and pattern of business taken up at the Group level and to make a cross section comparison of functioning of Self Help Groups promoted by the two Self-Help Group Promoting Institutions (SHGPIs) in Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha, India. Average saving amount is Rs.35 in both the Blocks and saving is deposited with RRBs and commercial banks. About 90 percent of the studied SHGs belonging to both SHGPIs have availed loans. There is no striking variation in the number of SHGs that got bank linkage during this time period. Purpose wise classification of bank credit reveals that animal husbandry absorbed a major share followed by other activities in More Developed Block (MDB). In case of Less Developed Block (LDB) the share is more for the purpose of poultry followed by animal husbandry, tent house etc. The repayment behavior which is a good indicator of SHG growth is found good in both the Blocks. But between the two promoting institutions the repayment performance of NGO promoted Groups is poorer than that of Govt. Agency Groups.
