Impact of microfinance in empowerment of women in India

This paper collates and evaluates different studies that have been done in examining impact of microfinance on women empowerment. A huge amount of literature is available on the positive impact of Microfinance on women. This paper captures studies conducted in different countries to assess the impact. While most of the studies have shown a positive correlation between participation of women in micro finance and degree of empowerment few studies also have shown “no impact” on decision making power, health nutrition status of women who participate in microfinance programme. Literature reviewed also indicates that when microfinance programmes are implemented as standalone programmes without any linkages or focus on health and nutrition impact of programme towards empowerment is not visible. This paper also highlights need for further study on impact of microfinance in different economic status of women.