Rajasthan state is taken for the purpose of study because Rajasthan has diverse agro- climatic zones, regional disparities and different cultures. It is important to understand the regional context and livelihood system first, before embarking on study of microfinance sector, which is still not as widespread as it is in southern states. The Researcher will look at the general context of Rajasthan, the status of economy, livelihood systems, poverty and its reasons, mapping the most backward district areas and blocks and government‘s initiatives for poverty alleviation so that the importance of microfinance services are understood in the context of Rajasthan. According to International Labor Organization (ILO), ―Microfinance is an economic development approach that involves providing financial services through institutions to low income clients‖. In India, Microfinance has been defined by ―The National Microfinance Taskforce, 1999‖ as ―provision of thrift, credit and other financial services and products of very small amounts to the poor in rural, semi-urban or urban areas for enabling them to raise their income levels and improve living standards‖. "The poor stay poor, they are lazy but because not because they have no access to capital." Micro Finance is not just a financing system, but a tool for social change, specially for women. It is a tool for empowerment of the poorest people. The SHG‘s are the most appropriate way for getting finance. Micro finance help for the promotion of self employment and Direct income generation. It will also rearrange the assets and liabilities of SSI to participate in future opportunities. The economic development of a country primarily depends upon the establishment of industries, which require sufficient amount of capital. In our country, where capital is scare and unemployment is wide- spread, growth of small scale industries is vital in order to achieve a balanced economic growth. Poverty and unemployment are two major problems of the country today. Small-scale industries solve these two problems by providing employment with lower investment. The strength of small-scale

semi – urban and urban areas, fostering entrepreneurial base, shorter gestation period. Having recognized the significance of small-scale industries, the government of India has set up various institutions at different levels central, state, and local pursuing the policies of promotion and protection of industries since independence. Microfinance is a form of financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses lacking access to banking and related services. Two main mechanisms for the delivery of financial services to such clients are:- 1. Relationship- based banking for individual entrepreneurs and small businesses 2. Group- based models, where several entrepreneurs comes together to apply for loans and other services as a group. Microfinance is that part of the financial sector, which comprises formal and informal financial institutions, small and large, that provide small- size financial services to all segments of the rural and urban population, in practice however mostly to the lower segments of the population. Micro finance cover a wide array of microfinance institution, ranging from indigenous rotating savings and credit associations and self help groups (SHG) to financial cooperatives, rural banks and community banks as well as non- banking financial institutions (NBFIs) including credit NGOs, all the way up to development banks and commercial banks. The Small Scale Industries in INDIA can also be broadly classified into two types: (A) Traditional Industries: - Traditional industries are included basically KHADI VILLAGE INDUSTRIES, HANDLOOMS, SERICULTURE etc.

The review of existing literature is not customary rather an essential part of research work. It also facilitates the comparison between the earlier findings and findings of present study. Here is the brief review of some studies on the subject. examined that microfinance seems to have generated a view that microfinance development could provide an answer to the problems of rural financial market development. While the development of microfinance is undoubtedly critical in improving access to finance for the unserved and underserved poor and low-income households and their enterprises, it is inadequate to address issues of rural financial market development. It is envisaged that self-help groups will play a vital role in such strategy. But there is a need for structural orientation of the groups to suit the requirements of new business. Microcredit movement has to be viewed from a long-term perspective under SHG framework, which underlines the need for a deliberate policy implication in favour of assurance in terms of technology back-up, product market and human resource development. Mohammed AnisurRahaman (2007): Has examined that about microfinance and to investigate the impact of microfinance on the poor people of the society with the main focus on Bangladesh. We mainly concise our thesis through client‘s (the poor people, who borrowed loan from microfinance institutions) perspective and build up our research based on it. Therefore, the objective of this study is to show how microfinance works, by using group lending methodology for reducing poverty and how it affects the living standard (income, saving etc.) of the poor people in Bangladesh. Microfinance has the positive impact on the standard of living of the poor people and on their life style. It has not only helped the poor people to come over the poverty line, but has also helped them to empower themselves. Dr. JyotishPrakashBasu (2006): Has examined that the two basic research questions. First, the paper tries to attempt to study how a woman‘s tendency to invest in safer investment projects can be linked to her desire to raise her bargaining position in the households. Second, in addition to the project choice, women empowerment is examined with respect to control of savings, control of income, control over loans, control over purchasing capacity and family planning in some sample household in Hooghly district of West Bengal. The empowerment depends on the choice of investment of project. The choice of safe project leads to more empower of women than the choice of uncertain projects. The Commercial Banks and Regional Rural banks played a crucial role in the formation of groups in the SHGs -Bank Linkage Program in Andhra Pradesh whiles the Cooperative Banks in West Bengal. Jacob Levitsky and Leny van Oyen (1999): Has examined those micro-businesses to large corporations, located in large urban centres, in rural areas and in the formal and informal sectors.

Dr. Purushottam Tripathi1* Harshit Tripathi2 7

describing experiences, a link is made between size of enterprises, financing schemes/instruments and typical delivery channels. When referring to enterprises in this paper, focus is predominantly on businesses, both existing and potential, in the manufacturing sector and related services. It is clear from this paper that increasing the volume of finance available and the delivery of such funds in various appropriate forms, to support enterprises in Africa, is a difficult challenge. Central banks have to be given more independence, strengthened with qualified, experienced personnel, able to fulfill adequately the role of supervising and monitoring the performance of commercial banks in the provision of loans to those enterprises able to make effective use of them. Formal financial institutions such as commercial banks and, in a few cases, development banks, have to be encouraged and pressed to make appropriate loans to those who have proved themselves by paying off a number of loans they have received from NGOs or from formal financial institutions. The minimalist credit approach has clear limitations, and for credit schemes to be effective and have impact, complementary services are needed. Mattew, et.al (1998): delineated in his article, ―Research& Development – Recent Trends‖ that India should deliver high quality products by use of indigenous advanced technologies. Industries should upgrade its present facilities and products to international standard. Hassan Zaman: The fact that the microfinance industry has been able to provide access to credit, currently, to nearly thirteen million poor households in Bangladesh is truly remarkable. There are around twelve hundred microfinance institutions (MFIs) operating in Bangladesh,1 but the industry is dominated by four large MFIs— BRAC, Grameen, ASA (Association for Social Advancement), and Proshika—that serve around 11.5 million, or 90 percent of all MFI 4 Case Studies in Scaling Up Poverty Reduction clients.2 After the ―big four,‖ the next largest NGO, Swarnivar Bangladesh, has 0.7 million clients, and then there are probably only ten NGOs that have more than 1,00,000 borrowers. The bottom line is that the majority of the MFIs are small (fewer than 5,000 borrowers), and that the bulk of the access to microcredit is supplied by four MFIs. As such, the experiences of scaling up discussed here draw primarily upon these large MFIs. The growth in the poor‘s access to credit took place in several distinct phases over the last three decades. The origins of the current microcredit model can be traced back to action research in the late 1970s, carried out by academics as well as practioners in organizations that were created to deal with the relief and rehabilitation needs of post-independence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which experimented, with different modalities of delivering credit to the poor. The various models converged in the beginning of the 1990s toward a fairly uniform ―Grameen-model‖ of delivering microcredit. It sparked a sharp growth of access to microcredit during this decade. In recent years, the standard Grameen-model has undergone more refinements in order to cater to different niche markets as well as to different life-cycle circumstances. Maruthi Ram Prasad, Sunitha and Laxmi Sunitha (2011): conducted a study on Emergency and Impact of Micro-Finance on Indian Scenario. After the pioneering efforts by Government, Banks, NGOs, etc the microfinance scene in India has reached in take off stage. An attempt could be initiated to promote a cadre of new generation micro-credit leaders in order to strengthen the emergence of Micro-Finance Institution (MFIs), so as to optimize their contribution towards the growth of the sector and poverty alleviation. Each Indian state could consider forming multi-party working group to meet with microfinance leaders and have a dialogue with them about how the policy environment could be made more supportive and to clear up misperceptions. With one state leading the way, we need to build on a successful model. By unleashing the entrepreneurial talent of the poor, we will slowly but surely transform India in ways we can only begin. Idowu Friday Christopher (2010): conducted a study to find the Impact of Microfinance on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Nigeria. The fundamental objective of this study is to assess the impact of Microfinance on Small and Medium Enterprises (SSI) in Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was employed in selecting the 100 SSI that constituted the sample size of the research. Structured questionnaire was designed to facilitate the acquisition of relevant data, which was used for analysis. Descriptive statistics, which involves simple percentage graphical charts and illustrations, was tactically applied in data presentations and analysis. The findings of the study reveal that significant number of the SSI benefitted from the MFIs loans even though only few of them were capable enough to secure the required amount needed. Interestingly, majority of the SSI acknowledge positive contributions of MFIs loans towards promoting their market share, product innovation achieving market excellence and the overall economic company competitive advantage. Other than tax incentives and financial supports, it is recommended that Government should try to provide sufficient infrastructural facilities such as electricity,

SSI in Nigeria. Chiyah Boma Ngehnevu Forchu Zachary Nembo (2010): conducted a study on The Impact of Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) in the Development of Small and Medium Size Businesses (SSI) in Cameroon Microfinance is a term used by many in different domains to fight poverty. Poverty is a syndrome that is affecting the developing countries and especially in sub Saharan Africa. This thesis is focused on three specific objectives: The first of them is to investigate whether Cam CCUL helps its members and/or customers in developing their small or medium size businesses. The second aim is to find out whether rural SSI can secure micro- financing with ease and on reasonable terms. Lastly, to determine if there are underlying factors, such as size of operation, securable wealth, or gender of application, is a factor in getting a loan. In other to accomplish the task, we had to gather data from primary and secondary sources in the rural areas of Cameroon. The primary sources where from questionnaires and interviews. The population was drawn from two different groups; the members of Cam CCUL and the credit unions constituting Cam CCUL league. We made used of closed and open ended questions. The responses were analyzed using percentage frequency tables. From the information that we have, it is realized that Cam CCUL has a positive impact in the development of the members‟ businesses. Cam CCUL provides its members with financial and social intermediation services to help improve their businesses. Securing micro financing by SSI is determined by the stage or level of development in which the business is. Businesses that are viewed as growing had it easy to get a loan. But the main criteria used were the ability to pay back and to meet the set requirements to obtain a loan. The main requirement is fixed tangible assets such as land. We noticed that the poorest of the poor were not included in designing and implementing their policies. The entry requirements are difficult for the poorest to meet thus they do not enjoy the services of Cam CCUL. We can say that the poorest are those who are not involve in any income generating activities.

3. EVOLUTION OF MICROFINANCE

Microfinance is not a new concept. It dates back in the 19thcentury when moneylenders were informally performing the role of now formal financial institutions. Over the past two decades, policymakers, international development agencies, non-governmental organizations have devised various development approaches, and others aimed at poverty reduction in developing countries. One of these strategies, which 1990s, involves microfinance schemes, which provide financial services in the form of savings and credit opportunities to the working poor (Johnson and Rogaly, 1997). From the year 2000, Microfinance institutions in and around Coimbatore city have grown dramatically in terms of branches, groups, loan disbursement, number of loans, loans collected, savings clients etc. Microfinance has penetrated into rural areas of Coimbatore and Pollachi. Microfinance enables the poor and excluded section of people in the society who do not have an access to formal banking to build assets, diversity livelihood options and increase income, and reduce their vulnerability to economic stress. In the past, it has been experienced that the provision for financial products and services to poor people by MFIs can be practicable and sustainable as MFIs can cover their full costs through adequate interest spreads and by operating efficiently and effectively. Microfinance is not a magic solution that will propel all of its clients out of poverty. But various impact studies have demonstrated that microfinance is really benefiting the poor households (Littlefield and Rosenberg, 2004). Microfinance is defined as a development tool that grants or provides financial services and products such as very small loans, savings, micro-leasing, micro-insurance and money transfer to assist the very or exceptionally poor in expanding or establishing their businesses (Robinson, 1998). In addition to financial intermediation, some MFIs provide social intermediation services such as the formation of groups, development of self confidence and the training of members in that group on financial literacy and management (Ledgerwood, 1999). There are different providers of microfinance (MF) services and some of them are; Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), savings and loans cooperatives, credit unions, government banks, commercial banks or non banking financial institutions. The target group of MFIs are self employed low income entrepreneurs who are; traders, seamstresses, street vendors, small farmers, hairdressers, rickshaw drivers, artisans blacksmith etc (Ledgerwood, 1999). Microfinance as an industry evolved in all the third world countries almost at the same time span. World over, it was getting widely recognized that improving income levels of low- income community is essential to improve their well-being During the 1970s and 1980s, the microenterprise movement led to the emergence of Non- Governmental Organizations

Dr. Purushottam Tripathi1* Harshit Tripathi2 7

the significant events that helped it gained prominence in the 1970s was through the efforts of Mohammad Yunus, a microfinance pioneer and founder of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. In 2006, Prof. Yunus was awarded Nobel Peace prize for his efforts to create economic and social development. Microfinance in India started in the early 1980s with small efforts at forming informal Self Help Groups (SHGs) to provide access to much-needed savings and credit services. From this small beginning, the microfinance sector has grown significantly in the past decades. National bodies like the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) are devoting significant time and financial resources to microfinance. The strength of the microfinance organizations (MFOs) in India is in the diversity of approaches and forms that have evolved over time.

INDUSTRY

Indian Microfinance Institutions are predominantly NGOs i.e., nearly 80 % of the Microfinance Institutions operate under the Society/Trust form which is for the not-for-profit sector with a clear development agenda. Apart from this, other important legal forms are being used by Indian Microfinance Institutions. 10 % of organizations operate under the company structure; 5% are section 25 companies (Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act, 1956); 2% as Cooperatives; 2% as Non Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs); and 1% as Local Area Banks (LAB). a) Not for Profit Microfinance Institutions a.) NGO - Microfinance Institutions - 400 to 500 – Registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860 or similar provincial Acts Indian Trust Act, 1882
b.) Non- profit Companies - 10 – Registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 b) Mutual Benefit Microfinance Institutions a.) Mutually Aided Cooperative by State Government Societies (MACS) and similarly set up institutions - 200 to 250 – Registered under Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act enacted by State Government c) For Profit Microfinance Institutions a.) Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) - The major barrier to the development of Micro and Small Enterprises is access to credit. These enterprises differ in the level in which they are and the products and services offered to them by the MFIs. differently and the financing is determined by whether the firm is in the start-up phase or existing one and also whether it is stable, unstable, or growing. Stable survivors are those who benefit in having access to the financial services provided by MFIs to meet up with their production and consumption needs. Unstable survivors are groups that are considered not credit worthy for financial services to be provided in a sustainable way and Growth enterprises are Micro and Small Enterprises with high possibility to grow. In identifying the market, MFIs consider whether to focus on already exist ing entrepreneurs or on potential entrepreneurs seeking for funds to start up a business venture. Working capital is the main hindrance in the development of already existing SSI and to meet up, the borrow finance mostly from informal financial services which have high interest rates and services offered by the formal sector or not offered by these informal financial services. The business activity of a microenterprise is equally as important as the level of business development. There are three main primary sector where an enterprise may be classified; production, agriculture and services. Each of these sectors has its own risk and financing needs that are specific to that sector. Products and services offered by microfinance institutions in and around Coimbatore for the development of Micro and Small Enterprises are basically classified as two i.e. Financial Intermediation and Enterprise development services. Financial intermediation: Providing financial assistance for small business groups in the form of business loans and those loans can be utilized for further investment in the existing business or setting up new tiny business ventures. Since the rate of interest and the repayment schedule are formulated to suit the requirements of the loan takers, there exists enormous demands for this product.MFI s extends such microloans ranging from Rs.5000/- to Rs.25,000/- for such income generating activities and few MFIs categorized their clients activities as farm based activities which includes Agriculture, Poultry, Sheep-rearing, Goat-rearing, sericulture, mushroom cultivation etc and non – farm based activities which includes Petty-shop, Catering, Provison shop, Tailoring, Embroidery work, Beauty shop Vegetable vendor, Fruit Vendor, Textile shop, Xerox machine, Brick making, Gold covering work, Jewelers work and others etc.,. The loans are taken by poor households directly as well as through groups to meet their diverse needs. Enterprise development services: MFI s provides cost efficient microfinance coupled with knowledge and information services that raise human capacity and organizational capability and create open access to

provide skill development services; business training, marketing and technology services to their clients based on their occupation which helps them use their resources more productively. The term growth in this context can be defined as an increase in size or other objects that can be quantified or a process of changes or improvements. The firm size is the result of firm growth over a period of time and it should be noted that firm growth is a process while firm size is a state (Penrose, 1995). The growth of a firm can be determined by supply of capital, labour and appropriate management and opportunities for invest ments that are profitable. The determining factor for a firm‘s growth is the availability of resources to the firm (Ghoshal, Halm and Moran, 2002.) MFI s considering the growth of Micro and Small enterprises developed large-scale operations by offering a few highly standardized products with few advantages like Streamlined loan administration, Simplified decision-making for field staffs, Reduced in format ion requirements from clients, Low operational costs, Simplified repayment obligations. But this standardization also had its own disadvantages. So MFIs paid closer attention to product flexibility. Individual need-based loans are more suitable as they can be designed to cater to the specific requirements of the clients.

MICROFINANCE

The idea of microfinance is in some cases utilized as a part of place of microcredit; in any case, these two ideas vary. Understand that microfinance covers an expansive scope of administrations, one of which is microcredit. Microcredit is fundamental to numerous microfinance plans of action, and comprises of some recognizing qualities, some of which include: • Micro borrowers: A microcredit supplier for the most part accommodates to low-wage clients, including the underemployed and business visionary alongside a generally informal privately-run company, for example, negligible merchants. • Credit hazard think about: Loan records are made essentially by the advance officer from his stops at the indebted person's home and business. Account holders ordinarily need official budgetary proclamations, along these lines, advance officers help with making records utilizing anticipated money streams and total assets to learn the payback timetable and credit sum. ordinarily don't have sufficient security customary asked for by banks and what they have to embrace is of little significance for the budgetary association yet are extremely esteemed by the loan specialist. • Credit authorization and monitoring: Due to the way that smaller scale loaning tends to be a to a great degree dispersed process, advance approval by advance board of trustees depends firmly on the ability and unwavering quality of advance officers and officials for exact and auspicious data. • Controlling debts: Usually, administering is significantly the capacity of credit officers as data on client‘s singular situation is fundamental for profitable accumulations. • Gradually increasing lending: Micro-loaning utilizes motivating force plans to repay dependable borrowers with extraordinary access to approaching, more prominent credits (now and again with useful discount calendars and least financing costs). • Group lending: various smaller scale moneylenders‘ use assembles loaning systems where assets are open to little gatherings who embrace for other gathering individuals.

DEVELOPMENT

The Government of India stands at a point where they need have money related incorporation and to make in reverse India to get joined with streamlined India in which Micro financing plays one of the littlest yet in itself a greatest part to bolster the mission of Indian Government and Entrepreneurship Development is again a thought process of Indian Government so that issue of un-work can be controlled and that too at a quick pace and Entrepreneurship Development gives a twofold confronted opportunity by allowing to dynamic people with their incredible thoughts to be sought after until their proprietorship and at last giving work to different people. At the point when both the missions are enjoyed supporting the Government of India to elevate the expectations for everyday comforts of subjects by giving them enough open doors so they can carry on with their existence with some respect and India can be glad for saying that it can give practically every resident the essential need of nourishment, sanctuary and garments. At that point we can state that Microfinance and Entrepreneurship

Dr. Purushottam Tripathi1* Harshit Tripathi2 7

Taking after are the focuses to relate the two terms 1. In a learn at Tanzania by Kuzilwa it was found that Credit has been instrumental to the achievement of the endeavor at various phases of the life cycle of these organizations. By and large, new companies of endeavors have been supported by claim sources yet for the development of organizations they required credit. It was watched that lacking credit either blocked or deferred the entrepreneurial exercises. It has likewise been presumed that not fundamentally but rather credit appeared to have added to the development of ventures and also business. In the wake of getting credit, the yield of the organizations observed to be expanded by 40 percent. In this review it was underscored that requirement for credit level need not be chosen by the roof rather it's ideal to pass by the absorptive limit of the firm (Kuzilwa, 2005). He additionally talked about his discoveries in light of a framework. 2. Sparing is a necessary part of microfinance. Since long it was a confusion that poor can't spare. Development of microfinance has demonstrated that poor likewise can spare. Truth be told it is their sparing limit which decides their loaning limit. Stemper expressed that "Reserve funds are a vital methods for setting up customer history which is considered while assessing the advance applications" (Stemper, 1996). These reserve funds can likewise be utilized as a substitute for guarantee. Buckley (1997) saw investment funds as the premise to accomplish money related freedom and independence for the microenterprise. Sinha (2005) considers SHG as vital model for poor people and expressed that "The execution of the SHG model is outstanding in giving a reserve funds based component to inner gathering credit to address family unit issues. This system likewise serves (however not generally) to encourage access to credit by poorer customers, who will probably require little measures of credit for quick family unit purposes yet seem less trustworthy for bigger MFI advances". 3. Other than Finance administration of business enterprise is additionally the real test for Entrepreneur so MFI likewise helps in administrative exercises it is precisely inverse of customary moneylenders where just loaning and charging the high financing cost was just movement. Without a doubt MFI do charge high loan fees however do give additional win.

By virtue of low earnings, SSI find it difficult if not impossible to extricate themselves from financial handicap associated with their businesses. That has made them overdependent on Micro Finance Institutions notwithstanding the high interest rate they charge. Some Micro Finance Institutions that were established to support SSI and low income households in the informal sector have eventually increased their capital base and have eventually changed their status. Once the change the status, they operate in urban areas as financial companies to increase their profits or margins. In sum, Micro Finance Companies and Institutions are the main source of formal credit for SSI in India. However, Micro Finance Companies/Institutions have denied SSI other products that Micro Finance companies provide, such as business adversary product and social products. Also, the amount of savings SSI has to make to qualify for credit is large. Similarly, number of months clients have to save in order to qualify for loan is quite long, so MFIs should review them in the interest of low income customers. As government is interested in promoting SSI in informal sector, control of Micro credit provision by MFIs in that sector should be revisited to prevent them from milking the SSI dry. Again, it has to be appreciated that apart from financial challenges, SSI face other challenges such as inconvenient working environment, low functional education for effective business management, inappropriate technology and labour intensive nature of their operations just to mention a few. Therefore, the need for a holistic national policy on the informal sector and, micro finance to address its multi-faceted challenges cannot be overemphasized.

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Co-Supervisor