Vol.5, No.

2, April - June 2016

Impact of Microfinance on Tribal Development in Telangana

– Dr. I. Anand Pawar*

Abstract
The existing rural credit system in India has failed to live up to the expectations and
development of the poorer sections of the society. Many empirical evidences bear sufficient
testimony to this. Further, the banking system too has failed to deliver when it comes to meeting
the needs of the weaker sections of the society especially the women. Therefore, an effective credit
delivery mechanism, which could ensure credit delivery in a sustainable manner, has become a
necessity. The tribal population in the State of Telangana and in the country as a whole is the most
deprived and vulnerable community that faces severe economic exclusion. Although certain
constitutional safeguards are provided, there has been no economic, Social and political mobility
across these communities. Contrary to Scheduled Castes and other Backward Castes who witnessed
certain degrees of progress because of protective discrimination policies of the government, the
Scheduled Tribes remain abysmally backward and socially excluded, still living in harsh
environs.In this paper an attempt has been made to analyze the impact of microfinance on Tribal
Development in Telangana State in terms of household income; assets acquired and employment
generation before and after joining SHG and availing micro credit.
Keywords: Microfinance, Self Help Groups, Bank linkage model, Tribal Development.

Introduction
Micro Finance (MF) as a financial service innovation and is emerging as an important method
of bettering the lot of the poor and downtrodden. In fact, micro-finance has become a subject of
interest in the recent past especially in the context of reaching the unreached. For a country like India,
where substantial number of population is poor, access to credit facility is not only necessary but also
an indispensible for optimizing their per capita income in contribution to the growth of national economy.
The Planning Commission of India has estimated that 27.5% of the population was living below the
poverty line in 2004-05. The criterion used was monthly per capita consumption expenditure below
Rs 356.35 for rural areas and below Rs 538.60 for urban areas. 75% of the poor are in rural areas,
most of them are daily wagers, self-employed, house-holders and landless labourers (en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/poverty_in_India). The impact and implication of this position poses a great challenge for the
country to overcome the poverty and to have an equitable distribution of the national income to uplift
the poor.

* Dept. of Commerce, Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad-33. Email: [email protected]

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SUMEDHA Journal of Management

The existing rural credit system in India has failed to live up to the expectations and development
of the poorer sections of the society. Many empirical evidences bear sufficient testimony to this.
Further, the banking system too has failed to deliver when it comes to meeting the needs of the weaker
sections of the society especially the women. Therefore, an effective credit delivery mechanism,
which could ensure credit delivery in a sustainable manner, has become a necessity. Such aninitiative
would certainly work for the removal of poverty, unemployment and the development of women in the
society. The liberalization and globalization policies of the Indian Government have opened up new
vistas in the realm of credit delivery system in the country. For instance, there has been more emphasis
on empowering the hitherto powerless rural women. Micro-financing aims at improving the lot of the
rural women by effectively organizing women to work for women. Micro-financing underlines the
need for active and committed participation of women, not just as recipients of loan but as integral
partners in credit programmes through formation of groups, involvement in designing and operating
the programmes essentially aim at unleashing new opportunities for rural women.

Review of the Literature

Nelly, M.K & McCord (2001),found that microfinance has a positive effect depends on individual
women success full use of the services, her family dynamics, her groups internal rolls of conduct.
Authors identified six major dimensions of women empowerment in the impact assessment study of
credit with education on empowerment of women in Ghana, Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Thailand.
Rajesh Kumar Shastry (2009) in his article on "Microfinance and poverty reduction in India: A
Comparative Study with Asian Countries". Though poverty reduction has long been a high priority for
the Government of India, microfinance is a still experimental tool in its overall strategies. India's
microfinance experiments are much differ from the more substantial microfinance institutions and
programmes of its neighbors countries. The United Nations system was perhaps the first international
partner to India's new experiments with small scale credit schemes. Mahendra Varman (2005),studied,
"Impact of Self-Help Groups on FormalBanking Habits", makes a modest attempt to examine whether
there is any, associationbetween the growth of SHGs and the increase in female bank deposit accounts
and whetherSHGs have a tendency to influence account holding in formal banks.
Priya Basu and Pradeep Srivastava (2005), in their paper titled, "Exploring PossibilitiesMicro
finance and Rural Credit Access for the Poor in India", empirically analyze the reachof the most
dominant micro finance initiative, the SHG-bank linkage model. The paper drawslessons for exploiting
the potential of micro finance in India, outlines areas of concern forgovernment policy towards this
important sector and suggests ways to scale up access tofinance for the poor.Jaya S. Anand (2002),
in her discussion paper titled "SHGs in EmpoweringWomen: Case Study of Selected SHGs and NHGs",
gives a review of progress of SHGs. She has attempted to examine the performance of selected SHGs
and NHGs and toassess its impact, especially the impact of micro credit programme on empowering
women. Ithas been clearly established that delivering credit alone may not produce the desired

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impact.The supporting services and structures through which credit is delivered, ranging from
groupformation and training to awareness-raising and a wide range of other supporting measuresare
critical to make the impact of group activity strong and sustainable.Jerinabi, U. & Kanniammal, K.
(2009)Micro finance interventions are well - recognized world over, as an effective tool for poverty
alleviation and improving socio economic conditions of the poor. In India too, micro finance is making
head way in its efforts for reducing poverty and empowering rural and underprivileged women. Micro
finance through the network of cooperatives, commercial banks, RRBs, NABARD and NGO's has
also been largely supply - driven and a recent approach.
Sita Devi, K., Ponnarasi & Tamilselvi (2010)In the light of the importance of microfinance in
pushing back rural poverty, through the formation of SHGs. This study has been undertaken in Cuddalore
district of Tamil Nadu with the objective of studying the impact of microfinance on the socio-economic
status of the rural poor. The results of the study revealed that the SHGs have had greater impact on
both economic and social aspects of the beneficiaries. Thus it could be inferred that the SHGs have
succeeded in their role of change agents which could help in pushing back rural poverty. Pradeep
Kumar Singh(2004) critically examined that the reasons for tribal development in India. He advocated
that the biggest mistake in tribal development planning in India has been the clubbing together of all the
tribes, as if they constitute a homogeneous cultured group. It is negative to think that they all have
similar problems and that same or similar welfare schemes will be useful to them all equally. These two
cannot be equated in socio-cultural terms and failure of all developmental programmes meant for tribal
development in the country. He concluded that in order to make tribal development programme more
viable, an urgent need to be the reclassify the Indian tribes. This new classification should be based on
the techno-economic parameters and relative advancements already achieved in the last fifty years.
The programmes should be prepared for each of the class separately. Further, these programmes
should aim at achieving 'affluence' rather than 'development'.
Nishankar Panda (2006) in his paper he outlined the imperatives and compulsions of Tribal
Development in India. The need for tribal development in India hardly needs any justification. Their
primitive way of life, economic and social backwardness, low level of literacy, hackneyed system of
production, absence of value system, sparse physical infrastructure in backward tribal areas and
demographic quality of tribal areas coupled together make it imperative for a systematic process of
development of tribals and tribal areas. Gopinath Reddy & Anil Kumar (2010) examined in their study
"Political Economy of Tribal Development as a case study of Andhra Pradesh". The problem of tribal
development have long baffled the policy makers, administrators and social scientists in India, and the
debate on meaning, character and direction of their socio-economic transformation continuous. Further
it is based on various committees' reports and studies on tribal development that, efforts have been
subsequently made to improve the tribal situation by providing various kinds of provision and schemes.
However, unfortunately, the tribals have not been able to derive sufficient benefits from this process of
planned development. They concluded that since independence, the Government of India has initiated

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several five year plans, programmes, policies and laws and has made efforts for gradual socio-economic
development of Schedule Tribes, there has been a considerable increase in the fund allocation for the
tribal areas but they still remain the weakest sections of the society. The reasons are:
(i) Most of the tribals were not able to draw benefits from the facilities provided by government
because of large-scale corruption among officials and improper implementation of tribal
development schemes;
(ii) The majority of the tribal people are not even aware of the development schemes implemented
by government agencies;
(iii) Agriculture is mostly primitive and there is very little irrigation facility;
(iv) Though there are many safeguards to protect tribals from outsiders and non-tribals, their
exploitation continues unabated.
(v) Inadequate monitoring of development programmes going on in tribal areas and therefore, most
of them are poorly implemented, etc.
The review of literature discussed above provides the deep insights of the work done by the
experts and researchers on some aspects of the micro finance. However, no studies have been taken
up to analyze the impact of micro finance on tribal development in Telangana.

Need for the Study

The tribal population in the State of Telangana and in the country as a whole is the most
deprived and vulnerable community that faces severe economic exclusion. Although certain constitutional
safeguards are provided, there has been no economic, Social and political mobility across these
communities. Contrary to Scheduled Castes and other Backward Castes who witnessed certain degrees
of progress because of protective discrimination policies of the government, the Scheduled Tribes
remain abysmally backward and socially excluded, still living in harsh environs. Hence, an attempt has
been made to study "Micro Finance and its Impact on Tribal Development in Telangana", delineates the
situation of Scheduled Tribes in the background of various policies of the state during the successive
plan periods and its impact on their socio-economic mobility.

Objectives of the Study

The objective of this study is to assess the impact of micro finance on socio -economic status
of the Tribalsin Telangana in terms of household income; assets acquired and employment generation
before and after joining SHG and availing micro credit.

Scope and Period of the Study

The present study is confined to analyze the Impact of Micro Finance (through SHGs) on
Tribal Development in Telangana for the period of one decade i.e., 2002-03 to 2013-2014.
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Research Methodology
The study is undertaken to analyze the role of micro finance in empowering tribal communities
in the state of Telangana. In order to realize the objectives stated, the data has collected by adopting
both primary and secondary sources. There are about 9, 95,000 Self-Help Groups are in operation in
the state of Telangana. Out of which about 300 SHGs and an average 3300 members from the study
area are included in the sample size based on both convenience and representative sampling methods.
The required data has been collected from the SHG members (Tribal women's) from three districts
viz., Adilabad, Khammam and Mahabubnagar. From each district five mandals and from each mandal
five revenue villages were taken into consideration based on convenience and representative sampling
methods. The data collected has been analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS).
Chi-square and other suitable (like, factor analysis, cluster analysis) tests depending upon the suitability
of the data used in order to find out the relationship between the use of microfinance and the development
of tribal communities in the study area.

Results and Discussion

Changes in the Household Income: Income is the major determinant of the standard of living of
the people. One of the reasons for joining in SHG is to avail credit and increase their well-being. The
SHGs member income has been increased after joining the SHGs. Hence women members of the
groups are independent to meet their personal expenditure, and they contribute more to their household
income. To find the whether any quantitative change in income levels of the beneficiaries among the
Tribals due to MF services are analyzed hereunder.
Table 1: Household Income Before and After Joining SHG
Income Before Jo ining SHG After Joining SHG Change
(in Rs.) Frequency Percent Frequency Percent (%)
Percent
Below 24,00 0 1697 51.42 1309 39.67 11 .75
24,000 – 36,000 703 21.30 9 17 27.79 6.49
36,000 – 48,000 481 14.58 5 21 15.79 1.21
Above 48,000 419 12.70 5 53 16.76 4.06
Total 3300 1 00 3300 10 0
Source: Field data
The percentage of respondents whose annual income is below 24,000 has come down to
39.67percent after joining SHG as compared to 51.42 percent of them falling under 24,000 brackets
before joining SHG. Nearly 11.75 percent of the respondents were able to raise their annual income to
24,000 after joining SHGs. This indicates that there has been some improvement in the financial status
of those who have opted to become member of SHG. The percentage of respondents whose annual
income is between 24,000 - 36,000 has increased to 27.79 percent after joining SHG as compared to

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21.30 percent before joining SHG. There is an increase of 6.49 percent of the respondents who were
able to benefit by joining SHGs. This indicates that there has been some improvement in the financial
status of those who have opted to become member of SHG. The percentage of respondents whose
annual income is between 36,000 - 48,000 has increased to 15.79 percent after joining SHG as compared
to 14.58 percent before joining SHG.
But there is not much increase in the number of respondents who benefitted financially after
joining SHG as the rate of improvement is just 1.21 percent. This indicates that there has been any
significant improvement in the financial status of those who have opted to become member of SHG.
The percentage of respondents whose annual income is above 48,000 has increased to 16.76 percent
after joining SHG as compared to 12.70 percent before joining SHG. Many housewives did not earn
anything before joining SHGs, but after as a member of the SHGs, they are also earning reasonably.
There is an increase of 4.06 percent of the respondents who were able to benefit by joining SHGs.
This increases the willingness to participate in the SHGs' activities. Many women members independently
involve in the economic activities individually and with other group members after joining SHGs. This
indicates that there has not been any significant improvement in the financial status of those who have
opted to become member of SHG. But they are now economically independent and contribute to
increase their household income.
H0: There is no change in the household income of beneficiaries before and after joining in
SHG-BLP.
Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (K-S test)

F CF F0(X) E CE F e(X) F0(X)- Fe(X)

0.70
325 9.00 3259.00 1.00 815.96 815.96 0.294118 Dmax)
2.49 3261.49 1.00 652.77 1468.73 0.529412 0.47
1.19 3262.68 1.00 652.77 2121.50 0.764706 0.23
1.16 3263.84 1.00 652.77 2774.26 1 0.00
326 3.84 2774.26

Result: Calculated value of Dmax (0.070) is greater than the table value (0.02). Hence, H0 is
rejected and it is concluded that there is a significant change in the household income of beneficiaries
before and after joining in SHG-BLP.
Household Assets Acquired: The table 2 depicts the type of household assets acquired by the
members after joining SHGs. Out of 3300 sample Beneficiaries, there is a 6 percent increase in increase
of agriculture land which was acquired after joining SHG. 9 percent of increase in case of construction
of toilets, more than 17 percent of increase in getting Gas, Electricity and water tap connection.
Further it is also observed that there is more than 4 percent and 2 percent increase in acquiring vehicles
4 percent and establishment of small business units 2 percent respectively particularly after joining
SHGs and utilizing micro finance through SBLP.
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Table 2 : Type of Household Assets Acquiredby the Beneficiaries

Set of Assets Before Joining SHG After Joining SHG Change
Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Percent
Agriculture land 917 27.79 1131 34.27 6.48
Consumer durables 308 9.33 209 6.33 -3
Construction of Toilets 112 3.39 416 12.61 9.22
Gas, Electricity and Water tap 301 9.12 913 27.67 18.55
connection
Material assets 434 13.15 41 1.24 -11.91
Gold & Silver 55 1.67 10 0.30 1.37
Farm animals 663 20.09 17 0.52 -19.57
Business establishments 32 0.97 91 2.76 1.79
Vehicles 164 4.97 317 9.61 4.64
Others (if, any) 314 9.52 155 4.70 -4.82
Total 3300 100 3300 100 2.75%
Source: Field data
Therefore, it concluded that the acquisition of an asset is an indication of capital formation and
also improvement in the living standards of beneficiaries. Availability of credit played an important role
in the acquisition of assets. The portion of sample client household acquiring assets with micro credit
support rose to 2.75 percent after joining SHG and availing micro credit.
Employment Generation: Economic independence smoothens the way towards tribal development
through SHGs however; it is also through women empowerment. Microfinance helps women to engage
themselves in more self -employment opportunities and other livelihood related works. Poverty and
unemployment are the major problems of any under developed countries to which India is no exception.
Table 3 : Employment generation
Employment to Before Joining SHG After Joining SHG Change
Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Percent
Spouses 2356 71.39 2306 69.88 1.52
Family members 736 22.30 598 18.12 4.18
Hired labourers 208 6.30 396 12.00 -5.70
Total 3300 100 3300 100 0.00
Source: Field data
It is observed from the table 3 that SHG members provided highest number of employment
opportunities to their spouses which accounted for 76.06 percent, family members 26.52 percent and
only 6.30 percent is hired labourers. Further it is also observed that with help of SBLP, the members
were able to generate employment opportunities to their spouses has been net increased to 8.88 percent
after joining SHG when compared to 5.24 percent before joining the group. They could also generate
employment opportunity to their family members to the extent of 8 percent during the study period. It
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is very interesting point to note here is that after joining in SHG and availing micro credit through
SBLP, the members have raised to the level that they are also providing employment opportunities to
others in the form of hired labourers and which is accounted for 1.06 percent. Therefore, it can be
inferred that the SHG members are successfully utilizing the micro credit through SHG-LBP of
microfinance for generating employment opportunities and will provide greater scope for achieving
income and more economic benefits to the rural poor. Moreover, SHG members not only to providing
employment opportunities to their family members but also to others and helping them to reduce the
poverty and improve their standard of living.
Ho: There is no change in the employment of beneficiaries before and after joining in SHG-BLP.
Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (K-S test)

F CF F0(X) E Fe(X) F0 (X)-Fe(X)

1.59 1.59 0.38 1.41 0.33 0.04
1.34 2.93 0.69 1.41 0.33 0.36
1.31 4.24 1.00 1.41 0.33 0.67(Dmax)
4.24 4.24
Calculated value of Dmax = 0.67
Table value @ 5% level of significance =1.36/?n =1.36/?3300 = 0.02.
Result: Calculated value of Dmax (0.67) is greater than the table value (0.02), Hence H0 is
rejected and concluded that there is a significant change in the employment of beneficiaries before and
after joining in SHG-BLP.

Micro Finance and Tribal Development

Women empowerment is a multi dimensional concept. The major objective of the study is to
disembark at a finale about the role of microfinance on Tribal Development. So factor analysis is used
to reduce its different dimensions and to derive the important meaning full factors. About 10 variables
are outlined, as they found to be influencing Tribal Development. They are education, occupation,
marital status, religion and caste, nature of the family, head of the household ,ownership of the house,
asset possessed by Beneficiaries, family income, change in the personal income, savings, occupation,
loan availability after joining the group, poverty score, and scores of economic, knowledge, decision
making and self worthiness indices.

Suggestions
1. The role NGOs should be encouraged in taking all the Government welfare programmes and
more particularly microfinance through SHG-BLP in bettering the living standards of Tribal's -
the most deprived sections of the society otherwise the macro objective behind the microfinance
programme would not be fulfilled.
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2. An inclusive growth of Tribal development through SHG- BLP of microfinance has to be achieved.
It means whatever, growth achieved so far is only nominal and empowerment should be in
terms of gender equity, poverty reduction, growth in human development index (HDI) among
the rural and Tribal population in India. It is in terms of per capita income and change in living
standards. It is possible through involvement of cent percent women in formation SHGs and
utilization of micro credit.
3. Tribals should be educated about the issues right from the formation of SHGs to an effective
utilization of microfinance through SHG-BLP. In addition to this the Government of Telangana
should plan for training cum-basic educational programme through Open University system
may be extended to the major portion of illiterate women SHG members. Further, this approach
would be more beneficial for not only educating them but also creating awareness and utilization
of various Governmental schemes that are in vogue.
4. The family size of Tribals is still large in number. Suitable measure should be taken in this
direction at the Government level. A separate family planning incentives has to be evolved and
sensitize them with the benefits out of small family concept among the Tribes. All necessary
steps should be initiated to this effect. In addition, all welfare measures and subsidized schemes
may be linked with the small family norm.
5. The Government of Telangana should initiate further necessary steps to increase the sum of
micro credit through SHG-BLP up to Rs. 1 lakh to each SHG member. Special financial assistance
may be extended for construction of a PUCCA house and toilet, acquiring agricultural land other
productive purposes.
6. The government should identify the schemes which boost up the income levels of the tribal
families in small hamlets in various districts of Telangana.
7. The SC/ST Sub-plan should implemented without delay and the funds allocated for this purpose
should be divided into two separately among the Schedule Casts and Schedule Tribes and
immediately implemented through respective Social/Tribal welfare departments to reach target
group.
8. It is vital to ensure that there is proper regulatory mechanism to monitor and expand the schemes
at the larger interest of the beneficiaries. Whatever changes took place in the lives of Tribal
through SGH-BLP of microfinance is very little or insignificant. The, other issues like basic
amenities, approach roads to Tribal hamlets for which suitable policy decisions from the
Government side assumes greater significance.
9. The high level sensitization about microfinance and its benefits such as 'pavala vaddi' to SHG
members should be promoted in rural and Tribal areas. Further, it is also suggested to the
Government authorities to encourage the savings and investment habits among the Tribal poor
up to the expected/possible extent.
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SUMEDHA Journal of Management

10. There is no relationship between increase of assets and increase in income of beneficiaries
before and after joining in SHG-BLP which means the increases assets have nothing to do with
income enhancement. Most of the assets owned by the SHG members might be non-performing
assets. The revenue agencies of the GoTS have to activate the increased assets, so that they
become income generators.
11. The SHG members' dependency on money lenders should be reduced. For achieving the same
the Government should give necessary guidelines to both commercial banks as well as RRBs to
extend the financial support and also for meeting other requirements.
12. The Government should take necessary steps to increase the banking habits among the Tribal
households who are inaccessible to banking system. Further, it should be made mandatory to
have a bank account and all the financial transactions should be made through in order to ensure
the transparency and accountability. It will be helpful in ensuring the extended benefits may be
reaching the unreached-the ultimate beneficiary.
13. A remarkable change in the women empowerment is possible only when (i) financial discipline
among the indiscipline family members; (ii) Government should link all schemes funded by the
GoI and benefits in the name of women and see that the ratio and source of earning power
among the rural and Tribal poor should be raised.

Conclusion
The study tries to find the marginal impact of joining in SHGs on their annual income by
comparing their financial position before and after joining in SHGs. It is observed that, most of the
respondents were able to raise their annual income after joining SHGs. This indicates that there has
been some improvement in the financial status of those who have opted to become member of SHG.
This indicates that there has been some improvement in the financial status of members of SHGs.
Majority of respondents (63%) were daily labors before joining SHG but it has come down to 56
percent after availing micro credit. It is also observed that there is more than 4 percent and 2 percent
increase in acquiring vehicles 4 percent and establishment of small business units 2 percent respectively
particularly after joining SHGs and utilizing micro finance through SHG-BLP. It is evident from the
study that most of the SHG members who availed the credit have their repayment track record was
satisfactory. Communication skills has been improved while participating official discussion with other
people such as Bank officials, representatives of NGOs, peer groups, etc could give improvement in
their communication skills. Survey results found to be proving the argument that microfinance activities
help to boost financial inclusion process. The results of the study indicate that microfinance loan and
its productive utilization improved the economic condition of the participants of SHG-BLP.

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