THE IMPACT OF MICROFINANCE THROUGH SELF-HELP GROUPS (SHG): A STUDY ON THE ECONOMIC STATUS OF URBAN WOMEN WORKING IN PRODUCTION AND MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES IN MYSURU DISTRICT

Poverty in urban areas is a matter of prime concern in contemporary India. Its roots lay partly in uneducated workforce working in urban areas and partly in the socio-economic structure of urban India. Among various poverty alleviation schemes introduced, micro-finance envisages to bring about qualitative changes in the living conditions of the poor, uneducated urban women has become vital for their economic and social sustainability. Women working in Manufacturing and Production industries form a large part of the above said group in the urban areas. The beneficiaries who have access to credit under microfinance are playing important role in the socioeconomic life of their family. Nevertheless, one of the weaknesses of microfinance is a tendency to utilize the facility for urgent monetary requirements of the households instead of spending on self-employment micro-enterprise (SEM). In this research paper, the primary data was collected from women working in production and manufacturing industries of Mysuru district of Karnataka .This paper makes an attempt to look at the usage of loans of 124 women members of self-help groups who participated in microfinance programmes. The findings indicate that majority of the beneficiaries have used the loans for starting their own part- time micro-enterprises which is supplementing their wages they are getting from the factory. This has enabled the women members of self-help groups to become economically independent and helped them earn a stable income.