The Women Built the Bank They Were Being Kept Out Of

For a household with uncertain income, a small emergency is a debt at a rate somebody else set.

Women in these households carry responsibility for food, health and children while having the least control over cash, collateral or a relationship with a formal bank. The Lok Nidhi groups did not fix that by delivering a loan. They made the group the institution.

Members saved together, kept their own records, discussed internal lending and decided how pooled money should answer household priorities. The meeting also became the place where public entitlements and livelihood choices got discussed.

In 2008–09 there were 166 groups involving 2,458 families: 138 linked for savings, 116 for credit, holding ₹18.78 lakh and circulating ₹22.66 lakh through internal lending. Seventy-eight group efforts went towards realising entitlements. Five hundred and seventy-eight micro-enterprises were promoted.

By 2009–10 there were 263 groups: 206 savings-linked, 172 credit-linked, ₹32.25 lakh saved and ₹39.51 lakh lent internally. The count of promoted micro-enterprises stood at 790.

DEHAT facilitated formation, bookkeeping and enterprise sessions, and helped groups reach banks. Women supplied the savings, made the lending decisions, repaid, chose what to do with the money and carried the collective claims. The banks did what banks do.

The change worth naming is not one exceptional business. It is that a large part of the capital moving through these villages had been built and was being governed by the people using it.

Money became collective capacity, and the capacity stayed in the village.