Vidarbha Women Fuel Rural Enterprise With SHG Power

thenewsdirt
Jun 30
6 min read

A representation of rural and tribal women from Vidarbha showing their self reliance through self help groups — Vidarbha Women Fuel Rural Enterprise With SHG Power

Thousands of women across Vidarbha are abandoning informal labour to establish organised enterprises through government-backed self-help group schemes.

Between April 2022 and March 2023, the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and its state implementation arm, UMED, enrolled over 20,000 rural households in districts including Gondia, Chandrapur, and Washim.

These programmes provide catalytic funding through revolving funds, community investment schemes, and vulnerability reduction grants that shield families from economic shocks.

Massive Expansion of Self-Help Groups Across Three Key Districts

The scale of operations reveals the programme's growing reach across Maharashtra's eastern region.

Gondia district enrolled 3,351 rural households in self-help groups (SHGs) during the 2022-23 period, forming 326 new groups.

Chandrapur registered 7,804 households across 825 new SHGs, while Washim led with 8,854 households and 1,076 newly formed groups. Each group accesses multiple funding windows designed to support different stages of enterprise development.

Performance metrics compiled by UMED demonstrate strong implementation across the region. Gondia secured third position among 34 districts on combined indicators, including training intensity, bank linkage, and micro-plan preparation. Washim achieved fourth place, while Chandrapur ranked thirteenth.

All three districts reached 100 percent SHG bank-account coverage, eliminating a logistical barrier that previously restricted credit flow to rural women entrepreneurs.

Cluster-level federations have emerged as crucial intermediaries between individual groups and financial institutions. Gondia operates 53 functioning federations, Chandrapur maintains 55, and Washim coordinates 16.

These apex bodies negotiate with banks and bulk buyers, allowing SHGs to aggregate raw materials, share bookkeeping resources, and submit collective bids for public procurement contracts without depending on middlemen.

Credit statistics highlight the financial muscle these women's groups now wield in Maharashtra's rural economy.

Gondia's women's SHGs drew ₹484 lakh from revolving funds and ₹403 lakh from the community investment corpus during 2022-23.

Washim accessed ₹368 lakh and ₹576 lakh respectively from these sources, while Chandrapur registered ₹605 lakh from revolving funds but only ₹39 lakh from community investment funds.

Loan delinquency remains minimal, aligning with DAY-NRLM's nationwide non-performing asset ratio of 2.57 percent.

District-Specific Enterprise Patterns Drive Rural Innovation

Each district has developed specialised enterprise portfolios reflecting local resources and market opportunities within the broader Vidarbha economic landscape.

Gondia's SHGs concentrate heavily on agri-processing, supported by women-promoted producer companies. Darshana Women Farmer Producer Company, incorporated in January 2023 with five directors, channels capital into collective seed procurement and paddy marketing.

The company's authorised share capital of ₹1.5 million demonstrates women's commitment to formalising larger ventures once technical support becomes available.

Chandrapur SHGs pursue multipurpose dairying, turmeric grading, and low-smoke briquette production within the region's agricultural framework. The district's Potential Linked Credit Plan identifies 95 active farmer-producer organisations and allocates ₹235 crore for microcredit, creating a pipeline for enterprises that outgrow internal SHG financing capacity.

Washim groups occupy a mixed niche combining food processing and service trades. District records show 8,085 micro-investment plans prepared, nearly one for every SHG, with 2,452 groups already revolving capital. Although only 30 business-correspondent sakhis were deployed against a target of 350, federations compensated by hosting monthly credit camps with regional rural banks.

Beyond these focal districts, neighbouring areas demonstrate the programme's expanding footprint across eastern Maharashtra.

Wardha hosts 32 rural enterprises manufacturing 220 products ranging from millets to natural dyes, providing regular income for approximately 1,000 women and artisans. Gadchiroli recorded 972 SHGs accessing community investment funds last year, achieving the region's highest utilisation rate. These figures underscore how district-level institutions influence the pace, though not the direction, of women's entrepreneurship under DAY-NRLM.

Recognition has followed success stories emerging from these rural transformation initiatives. Three Gondia SHGs, Mahi, Savitri, and Nagzira, won the state's Hirkani Award for rural women's enterprise, each receiving ₹50,000 in seed capital.

"We no longer depend on the forest for our livelihood," group leader Gunwanta Ramteke told after her bakery unit, trained by Wildlife Trust of India, recorded a profit of ₹14,000 in its first five months.

Financial Infrastructure and Skills Training Drive Sustainable Growth

Affordable credit remains central to SHG enterprise development across Maharashtra's rural districts. Gondia and Washim maintain near-universal bank-account coverage, enabling electronic disbursal of DAY-NRLM funds.

Chandrapur selected 210 business-correspondent sakhis to extend digital banking services to remote hamlets not served by traditional branches, though the 36 percent selection rate against targets indicates scope for expansion.

Training volumes reflect the programme's emphasis on capacity building for rural women entrepreneurs. Washim completed 3,495 second-module self-management trainings and 3,165 bookkeeping refreshers in a single year, equipping group office-bearers to negotiate with lenders.

Gondia and Chandrapur achieved proportionally similar numbers at smaller absolute scales. This capacity-building proves decisive in converting savings groups into registered enterprises, the threshold qualifying women for government e-marketplace onboarding, food-safety licences, and Udyam registration.

Market linkage mechanisms show mixed progress across districts within the Vidarbha economic transformation. Gondia's federations organise pooled transport for seasonal produce to wholesalers in Tiroda and Deori, reducing unit freight costs by an estimated 18 percent.

Chandrapur's producer groups utilise block-level exhibitions to meet institutional buyers such as the Forest Development Corporation, though processing capacity still lags behind raw material supply. Washim's federation leaders report stable sales through state-backed "Saras" fairs, yet scaling beyond these outlets requires longer-term contracts.

Credit utilisation patterns reveal both strengths and bottlenecks in the rural finance ecosystem.

Revolving-fund utilisation across the three districts averages 90 percent of targets, but community-investment-fund usage varies dramatically.

Washim reached 51 percent of its physical target, Gondia achieved 77 percent, while Chandrapur managed just 3.6 percent. Bank managers cite appraisal delays for larger loans, while federation accountants highlight the need for improved financial templates.

The NABARD-sponsored pilot programme financed 2,000 joint-liability groups across Bhandara, with 28 percent of loans directed to women's enterprises.

This pilot demonstrates that mature SHGs can create parallel credit-worthy collectives, diversifying members' borrowing options and reducing dependency on single funding sources.

Success Stories from Rural Women Entrepreneurs in Vidarbha

Field interviews reveal transformative changes in work patterns and household earnings across the region. Manjusha Donode, director of Darshana Women Farmer Producer Company in Gondia's Salekasa block, emphasises the psychological impact of legal registration. "The certificate proves we are not just a hobby group; it gives us the confidence to speak in front of mandi agents," she stated during a shareholders' meeting in April.

Washim's Kalamb taluka provides another perspective on individual transformation within Maharashtra's SHG success stories.

Shobha Kamble, who joined an SHG in 2019, now operates a papad unit employing six neighbours. Her group accessed a ₹50,000 revolving-fund loan in 2023, purchasing a semi-automatic rolling machine that increased output to 25 kilograms per day. Net monthly income for each worker rose from ₹2,600 to ₹5,100 within eight months.

Chandrapur's Tadoba-Andhari corridor presents a pathway where conservation and enterprise converge in sustainable rural development. Nagzira SHG, operating within a tiger corridor, transitioned from fuel-wood collection to mahua-based biscuit production. "The block-level award money will go into new ovens and branding," said member Meena Meshram, referring to the Hirkani competition grant.

Wardha's enterprise cluster demonstrates scaled diversification potential for rural women's economic empowerment. Dr Vibha Gupta of Magan Sangrahalaya Samiti reports 1,000 women earning from coarse-grain noodles, natural fibre crafts, and vermicompost production. Average annual income for participants exceeded ₹1 lakh in 2024, according to internal sales ledgers verified by the district federation.

Stakeholders acknowledge that programme design alone cannot guarantee uptake across rural Maharashtra.

Chandrapur women cited long travel distances to attend three-day training modules, while Washim federation leaders noted that only 14 percent of SHGs had been federated under cluster-level bodies, limiting access to bulk finance. District officials counter that expansion is deliberately paced to maintain audit compliance and repayment discipline.

The convergence of statistical data and field testimonies points to a fundamental shift in rural women's economic participation across Vidarbha.

National support schemes have moved women from casual wage labour to organised entrepreneurship across the region's districts.

Whether through collective farming in Gondia, food processing in Washim, or forest-friendly enterprises in Chandrapur, SHGs are establishing permanent positions within local value chains.

The programme's future trajectory depends on how effectively federations, banks, and buyers can align their operational systems with the expanding ambitions of these new rural entrepreneurs.