Small Change Big Changes: Women and Microfinance in India

The emergence of microfinance as an option has globally transferred access to financial services for low-income populations. By making financing easy, it has given new hope to the developing nations and given them an option to tap into their potential for growth which was otherwise limited due to lack of financing options. Further, global leaders and economists have also hailed it as a measure to curb world poverty and promote the empowerment of marginalised groups across the globe (Banerjee and Jackson, 2017). It especially becomes an important feat in the case of women, who globally constitute half of the total population worldwide and are still in the process of claiming their due spaces, be it in the domestic spaces or professional spaces. As suggested by a SIDBI report, in India alone, we see women formulate up to a significant 85% among Microfinance borrower (SIDBI, 2019). In a highly patriarchal Indian society where women have been restricted to the four walls of the house especially the women in rural areas. These women have now started working equally with men. This has only been possible due to the emergence of Micro Financing as an option. In this article, the researcher intends to analyse the role of microfinance in empowering and changing the role of women in India (Banerjee and Jackson, 2017). The key argument that this article intends to is that microfinance can serve as a valuable tool for the financially underserved when used properly. It is divided into two parts; in the first segment, discussion about the potential and limits of microfinance has been discussed and then in the second segment how the insights drawn from this research can help reform the microfinance industry's current products, policies and future developments keeping their goals women centric has been discussed. Furthermore, the observation of this article is that microfinance can boost empowerments in the life of women especially from Indian hinterland. However, the prerequisite is to instil an ecosystem that can promote ecosystem of growth and transparency.