THE IMPACT OF MICRO FINANCE ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN INDIA

Rural development is primarily concerned with addressing the financial needs of the rural poor for sustainable economic development. The alleviation of rural poverty can be achieved by provision of finance, identifying income-generating activities and generation of employment in rural areas for socio-economic development. The rural households need financial assistance in the form of loans at subsidized rates, convenient avenues for saving, micro-insurance, etc. And this financial assistance is well catered to with the advent of Micro finance. Micro finance is an effective tool of financial inclusion that facilitate rural development and poverty alleviation by generating new employment opportunities, promoting agriculture production, establishing small scale industries, encouraging entrepreneurship, wage labour, self-help groups and restricting migration to urban areas. Thus main objective of this paper is to explore the potentiality of Micro finance with a view to study the impact of Micro finance in the development and poverty alleviation of the rural households.