Lakhpati Didi is not a scheme but an output of the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). Under DAY-NRLM, as on 30 June 2024, 10.05 crore women have been integrated into 90.86 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs). Out of these SHG members, more than 1 crore SHG members have an annual income of more than Rs 1 lakh, i.e. they are Lakhpati Didis.
During the financial year 2024-25, the Government of India has proposed an increased budgetary outlay of Rs 15047.00 crore for DAY-NRLM. This will facilitate scaling up of interventions for livelihood of SHG members. These interventions will not only empower the SHG members economically but also facilitate women-led development. Livelihoods of SHG members will be diversified and deepened under various sub-schemes of DAY-NRLM. Further, to facilitate a minimum income of Rs one lakh per annum to SHG members, potential Lakhpati Didis have been identified. They are being helped by community resource persons to prepare livelihood business plans, establish linkages to assets, skills, finance, technology, markets, etc. Further, a dedicated “Women Enterprise Acceleration Fund” has been set up to support SHG members individually and group enterprise. Other ministries such as Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises are being worked upon so that their schemes can be availed by the SHG members.
DAY-NRLM is providing access to credit and microfinance facilities to empower women through various steps which are as follows: i) Funds are provided in the form of Revolving Fund (RF) and Community Investment Fund (CIF) to help SHGs create a corpus from which SHG members can avail loans for various purposes. ii) Bank linkage is also facilitated for SHGs to avail loans at concessional interest rates. Since 2013-14, SHGs have been assisted in accessing bank credit of more than Rs 9.00 lakh crore. Master Circular for providing credit to women SHGs is being issued by Reserve Bank of India/National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) every year. iii) Financial literacy skills are also being imparted to SHG members through training on accounting, record-keeping, budgeting and credit management etc. iv) 'Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP)' a sub-scheme under DAY-NRLM programme which supports and facilitates SHGs and their family members to set up small enterprises in non-farm sector, create an ecosystem by providing training and support through Community Resource Person for Enterprise Promotion (CRP-EP) funded through Community Enterprise Fund (CEF) and provides domain and business related consultancy under one roof called Block Resource Centre (BRC). This BRC is run and managed by the same community. .
