Published Paper Details:

Poverty is a major concern in India, being one of the rapid-growing economies in the world, with a growth rate of 7.6 percent in 2015, and a considerable consumer economy. According to World Bank there are about 179.6 million people who live below the poverty line in India. So it is one of the greatest challenges in India to deal with one of the BRIC nations with such a huge population are seen by many countries as an emerging economy. India has failed to make a significant improvement in its poverty alleviation. Government of India with its concern started various poverty alleviation programs but they have failed to deliver the objectives to the level which is desired. The poverty alleviation programs in India can be differentiated on different basis for rural or urban areas. Most of them are designed to cover rural as it is high in such areas. The programs can be mainly grouped into, wage employment, self employment, food security, social security, and urban poverty alleviation. All these programs were programmed with the one theme to minimize and eradicate the poverty and thus uplift the socioeconomic status at individual level. The subsidized credit used by many countries including India was also a failure because of rising Nonperforming assets (NPA). The microfinance came forward and became the most popular tool to fight against the poverty when the Muhammad yunus a noble laureate from Bangladesh came up with the modern microfinance model called Grameen model. On the basis of that India progressed forward and was successful to make self help groups (SHGs) with the help of NABARD. A number of NGOs and MFIs have also delved into the business. From the past years government and various organizations like NABARD and national banks are thrusting to promote the microfinance at various levels but there is a long way to go because the outreach is too small as compared to the requirement and potential. The paper defines three distinct facets of microfinance, first is microfinance and its history, secondly Growth of microfinance in India from last decade, third is role played by the government of India with NABARD and other National banks in growth of SHGs and Grameen bank. The paper also discusses the evolution of microfinance and its role in global scenario.