Real Impact Evaluation of Micro Finance on Urban Women in India

Abstract

In India, microfinance is one of the most important innovations in anti-poverty policy in the last half-century. Microfinance has been accepted as a tool for growth. Significant divergence exists between local and external perspectives on use of money and other resources for gender. The general idea of the paper is to assess and evaluate the contribution of microfinance institutions for the empowerment of urban poor women. It explores impacts of microfinance on economic, social and overall empowerment perspectives of women; using different frameworks. The paper is based on primary data collected from 120 women through questionnaire along with secondary data to assess the impact of MFIs in relation to Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). Results found that most urban women in this association experienced increased income and educational level, therefore improved their economic status and social conditions after receiving the loans from NGOs.