Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission (MSRLM–Umed) tested a simple hypothesis: if rural women entrepreneurs are given public platforms, structured training, and transparent access to capital, enterprise outcomes improve—and so do outcomes for children in their households.
The show starts in a village kitchen where a ledger is kept beside the spice box. A mother explains profit to her daughter using tamarind and turmeric, then writes a pitch on the back of a school notebook. By winter, she is one of 330 women who travel from 34 districts to a two-day training—how to price, how to speak to strangers with clipboards, how to ask for money without apologising.
The vehicle was a television reality series, “Ghe Bharari – Mala Pankh Milale,” designed as a pipeline from training to investment to market visibility. Each of 13 episodes featured three entrepreneurs presenting to a panel that evaluated viability and immediate fundability. The structure had one purpose: convert informal hustle into investable businesses.
Outcomes were concrete. Thirty-nine entrepreneurs received funding through SBI Foundation, with the rest leaving with refined business plans, exposure to buyers and connections for follow-up credit. The televised format created a secondary effect: market discovery for products that rarely reach urban or institutional buyers. Visibility, not only money, changed the trajectory— orders, inquiries and mentoring offers followed.
The intervention sits on the MSRLM base of 65+ lakh rural households. It does not replace the SHG system; it accelerates it by compressing three steps— capacity building, investment and marketing—into one public process. For children, the effects are practical: steadier cashflows for school fees, better household budgeting from mothers trained in cost and margin and a visible example of formal enterprise as a pathway.
Measured plainly, the project delivered: targeted skill building; verifiable funding decisions; expanded markets through broadcast attention; and, a replicable format that can be rerun with new cohorts.
Risk management at IOB is no longer a back-office function — it has become the central nervous system of the bank. The transformation began with the creation of an Interactive Capital Dashboard, a real-time tool that tracks capital adequacy ratios such as CRAR, CET1 and risk-weighted assets. More than a compliance necessity, the dashboard offers simulation capabilities, enabling management to visualise how different scenarios – from economic shocks to sectoral downturns – could impact the bank’s capital position. This has made strategic planning more data driven and agile.
The revamping of the ICAAP framework and the launch of a Risk Appetite Dashboard further strengthen this structure. These tools provide consolidated views of credit, liquidity and market risk indicators, while automated systems like the CARE Rating Tracker update external ratings in real time. By eliminating manual intervention, the bank has drastically reduced the risk of errors and improved the speed of reporting. For instance, during FY 2024-25, IOB achieved an impressive 99.38% coverage of borrower accounts rated using audited financials — a feat that not only enhances transparency but also reduces provisioning risks.
Stress testing across 19 industry sectors and the development of an in-house IRRBB model have further prepared IOB for market volatility, ensuring it can anticipate risks instead of reacting to them.
If Risk Management is IOB’s shield, IOB SMART is its spear. This integrated digital solution tackles a key challenge in secured lending: property valuation and climate risk assessment. Traditionally dependent on manual processes and pin-code-level data, the system now leverages latitude–longitude tagging to provide pinpoint accuracy.
Through a seamless portal and mobile app, valuations, legal opinions and climate assessments flow into a centralised repository. Branches, regional offices and risk committees can access reports in real time, cutting delays, ensuring consistency and faster approvals. By embedding ESG principles into both risk management and lending, IOB is not just futureproofing its operations — it is redefining what responsible banking looks like in the Indian context.
The Government of Uttarakhand has achieved a remarkable transformation in the housing sector through two complementary initiatives: Affordable Housing by Private Developer on Private Land by Uttarakhand Awas Evam Vikas Parishad (UKAVP); and, the eASE App (One Stop Access to All e-General Services) by Uttarakhand Housing and Urban Development Authority (UHUDA). Together, they represent a convergence of policy innovation and digital transformation aimed at improving lives and governance outcomes across the state.
The Affordable Housing project emerged as a path-breaking response to Uttarakhand’s acute land scarcity and the growing demand for homes among the economically weaker sections (EWS). Implemented under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) guidelines, the initiative facilitated construction of 12,856 EWS units across 15 projects, all developed on private land contributed by private developers at their own cost. The state acted as facilitator, ensuring statutory clearances, financing support and transparent beneficiary selection through an online portal. The model maintained affordability by fixing sale prices and providing access to loans through cooperative banks. Achieving 80% physical progress by mid-2025, the project stands as a replicable model of inclusive urban development, successfully integrating social welfare with private enterprise and sound governance.
Complementing this, UHUDA’s eASE App has revolutionised administrative efficiency by bringing all urban development authorities under a single integrated digital platform. Implemented in 2020, it introduced automation in building plan approvals, grievance redressal, RTI management, HR systems and project monitoring across departments. The system’s auto-scrutiny, auto-escalation and deemed-approval features drastically reduced delays while ensuring transparency.
While UKAVP’s project provides a sustainable housing solution for thousands of low-income families, UHUDA’s eASE App ensures that such development is backed by data-driven and citizen-centric governance.
Andhra Pradesh’s urban poverty mission reads like a single, interlinked story led by Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA). It starts with trust and capital. Through the SHG Bank Linkage Scheme, women who once borrowed at punishing rates now access formal credit at scale, the state holds nearly a third of India’s share with ~99.5% recovery, turning credit into confidence and enterprise.
That capital flows into SHG-led Enterprises & Urban Job Creation, where 31,637 new livelihood units take shape, 9,183 members gain “walk-to-work” placements and 143,173 entrepreneurs formalise via MSME registration. This is the “One Family, One Entrepreneur” vision made visible.
Skills and markets then snap into place. Empowering Urban SHGs via Skill Development & Gig Economy equips 12,523 SHG family members with 60-hour NSDC-RPL training and sector skill certification, followed by digital onboarding to platforms, an assembly line from training to transactions. Its sister chapter, Empowering Urban SHGs Through Gig Economy Integration, operationalises the same idea statewide with Home Triangle — uniforms, IDs, three-month subscription support — so certified electricians, plumbers, beauticians and more can earn in their own neighbourhoods.
Markets also move online. To keep ambition burning, Best Entrepreneurs (Prerana Sakhis) spotlights four star performers per district with EDP, exposure visits and up to ₹50,000 support.
The story widens beyond SHGs to those who make our streets work. Street Vendors Management Programme (PM SVANidhi) formalises livelihoods with CoVs, ID cards, vending markets and affordable working-capital ladders — ₹10,000 to ₹20,000 to ₹50,000 — propelling Andhra Pradesh to national leadership (≈30% of India, ~95% recovery).
Finally, dignity meets shelter. NIVASAM (Shelter for Urban Homeless) modernises SUH with real-time dashboards, CCTV-enabled oversight, grievance redressal and tighter NGO–ULB coordination — making every bed count, every night.
The outcome is not a set of schemes but an urban livelihood ecosystem where a woman can access credit, learn, certify, sell offline and online.
In the quiet, sun-washed lanes of rural India, a silent revolution has been unfolding led not by governments or global institutions, but by women armed with courage, small loans and dreams far larger than their circumstances. For decades, these women had been invisible to the formal financial world. And then, almost quietly, a partner stepped into their lives, one that believed they could be the architects of their own destiny.
That partner was Muthoot Microfin Limited.
When Muthoot Microfin began its journey as an NBFC-MFI in 2015, the goal was simple yet bold: bring credit to the women who had long been excluded from India’s formal financial system. The mission grew into something larger. It wasn’t just about loans; it was about choices, confidence and rewriting destinies.
From its base in Kochi, the company expanded into more than 25,000 villages, reaching 3.4 million women. Each loan was more than a financial product, it was a seed of transformation. Tea stalls flourished, dairy farms expanded and tailoring units became lifelines for entire families.
Muthoot Microfin realised that true empowerment required responsibility. In 2018, it adopted a forward-looking ESG framework, well before such ideas became mainstream. Soon, every branch, every process and every employee became part of a culture rooted in ethics, sustainability and care.
Digitisation arrived as another turning point. The Mahila Mitra app and handheld devices not only reduced paper use by up to 87% but also taught rural women the language of India’s digital economy.
Yet, the company’s impact stretched far beyond finance. Tele-eclinics brought doctors to remote districts, sanitation loans built safer homes and solar-powered branches lit up rural landscapes with clean energy.
In 2025, the company’s efforts were recognised with the prestigious CARE Edge-ESG 1 rating, the highest in India’s BFSI sector. But the true recognition lies in the eyes of the women who now stand taller, dream bigger and walk a little faster toward their futures.
Over the past few years, JSCB has transformed itself from a struggling institution with overwhelming non-performing assets (NPAs) into a model of cooperative banking reform. Through an unwavering commitment to recovery, accountability and modernisation, JSCB not only reversed years of financial stress but also emerged as a digitally resilient bank equipped with cutting-edge cybersecurity architecture. Its dual success in NPA management and the implementation of a Unified Security Solution has reshaped both the bank’s financial health and its digital future.
In 2020, JSCB faced an alarming situation — the Gross Non-Performing Asset (GNPA) ratio stood at an unsustainable 51.63%, while the Net NPA (NNPA) was 18.48%. Recognising the existential threat, the bank embarked on a mission to restore financial discipline.
The first challenge was to address years of poor recovery performance and low staff motivation. The management introduced a structured recovery framework beginning in April 2020. Recovery teams were formed at each regional office, bolstered by the assistance of government home guards to support field enforcement. The bank initiated extensive legal action under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act against wilful defaulters.
Simultaneously, JSCB partnered with district administrations to strengthen the powers of Certificate Officers in key districts like Deoghar, Dumka, Simdega, East Singhbhum and Gumla, ensuring faster enforcement. Eligible cases were settled through Lok Adalats.
The impact was dramatic. By March 2025, the GNPA had fallen to 9.53% and NNPA had dropped to 3.15%, a sharp reduction of more than forty percentage points in five years.
As JSCB’s financial position stabilised, attention shifted toward securing its growing digital ecosystem. With expanding customer bases, digital transactions and internet banking, the bank recognised that cybersecurity had to be at the heart of its modernisation journey. In July 2024, it launched the Unified Security Solution — an architecture to protect data, networks and operations.
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