The SHG-Bank Linkage Programme — how NABARD banks India’s self-help groups
The chart shows the steady growth in savings-linked self-help groups. The table below carries the same figures so the page is readable without JavaScript — for accessibility and AI answer engines.
Savings-linked self-help groups (crore), by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | SHGs (crore, approx.) | Note |
| FY15 | ~7.7 | Savings-linked self-help groups, in crore (approx.) |
| FY18 | ~8.7 | Steady expansion, led by the southern and eastern states |
| FY21 | ~11.2 | Growth continues through the pandemic via digital onboarding |
| FY24 | ~14.4 | World's largest microfinance programme by member reach |
All figures are rounded and approximate, on a NABARD ‘Status of Microfinance in India’ framing; intermediate-year counts are indicative. None of these figures is in the BankPulse Verified-numbers ledger pending reviewer sign-off. For exact figures see the source linked below.
The programme at a glance
| Metric | Latest (approx.) | What it means |
| Savings-linked SHGs | ~1.44 crore | Groups with a savings account at a bank (latest year, approx.) |
| SHG savings with banks | ~Rs 65,000 crore | Aggregate balance the groups hold with banks (approx.) |
| Credit-linked SHGs (loans outstanding) | ~69 lakh | Groups carrying a bank loan (approx.) |
| Bank loan outstanding to SHGs | ~Rs 2.5 lakh crore | Total SHG loans on banks' books (approx.) |
| Women's share of SHGs | ~88% | Self-help groups are overwhelmingly women's groups |
The three linkage models
All three models connect SHGs to bank credit; they differ only in who forms the group and how the money flows.
| Model | Who forms the SHG | Who finances | Note |
| Model I | Banks themselves | Banks | SHGs both formed and financed directly by the bank; the smallest share |
| Model II | NGOs / government agencies | Banks | SHGs formed and nurtured by facilitators but financed directly by the bank; the most common model |
| Model III | NGOs / MFIs (as intermediaries) | Banks via the intermediary | Banks lend through an NGO or microfinance institution that on-lends to the SHGs |
How the programme evolved
| Year | Milestone |
| 1992 | NABARD launches the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme as a pilot to link 500 self-help groups with banks |
| 1996 | The RBI mainstreams SHG lending as a normal banking activity, opening the programme to scale |
| 1999 | The programme is folded into national rural-livelihood efforts; SHGs become the main vehicle for women's financial inclusion |
| 2015 | NABARD launches the EShakti pilot to digitise SHG books of account and credit histories |
| 2011 onward | Convergence with the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) channels women's SHGs and interest subvention through the programme |
What it means for bankers
The SHG-Bank Linkage Programme is the quiet workhorse of Indian financial inclusion — it puts formal savings and credit in front of tens of crores of rural women through their groups, and it counts toward a bank’s priority-sector and weaker-section targets. For a banker, SHG lending is attractively low-risk: joint liability and peer monitoring keep repayment rates high despite the absence of collateral. It sits alongside the other inclusion channels — the microfinance (MFI) loan book run by NBFC-MFIs and small finance banks, and the co-operative rural-credit structure. Watch two things: the steady migration of SHG record-keeping onto digital rails (NABARD’s EShakti), which is building formal credit histories for first-time borrowers; and the convergence with the government’s rural-livelihoods mission, which channels women’s SHGs and interest subvention through the same plumbing.
SHG-Bank Linkage Programme FAQ
Methodology & sources: see how BankPulse dashboards are sourced, verified & updated · machine-readable SHG-Bank-Linkage JSON feed.