MICROFINANCE AND SOCIO-CULTURAL AND FAMILIAL EMPOWERMENT: A STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO WOMEN PARTICIPANTS OF SELFHELP GROUPS IN DELHI AND HARYANA

Microfinance provides access to financial services to the underprivileged people, specifically women. The sector iscurrently having a total loan portfolio worth 1.785 trillion according to the SIDBI Microfinance Pulse Report 2019.Withrespect to women empowerment, microfinance plays a special role by providing the women easy access to creditthrough which they get the confidence in starting their own businesses and become independent. Womenempowerment is multi-dimensional in nature and comprises of economic,socio-economic and skill empowerment.Thepresent paper attempts to find out if microfinance program through Self-Help Groups (SHGs) is effective in empoweringwomen in socio-cultural and familial context. The study was conducted through a questionnaire involving 500respondents from SHGs of Delhi and Haryana. It was found that there is significant relation between the microfinanceprogram participation duration and the socio-cultural and familial empowerment. The study found evidence thatmicrofinance program along with providing financial assistance to the women participants aid in empowering thewomen in socio-cultural and familial domain.