Swayamshree Micro Credit Services

The livelihood of rural and semi-urban people in Odisha depended on activities like petty trade, artisan works, animal husbandry, wage labor, and agriculture and allied activities. As most of the activities were seasonal in nature, they could not be relied upon completely as the sole source of livelihood. Moreover, lack of appropriate skills and bargaining power, little market related information, lack of avenues for marketing, and limited resources often limited the potential of people in these areas to harness existing resources. Also, the rural credit delivery system in Odisha was not institutionalized and people quite often had to depend upon the local money lenders for credit. These money lenders charged high rates of interest. Among the formal financial institutions, the general perception was that the poor were “unbankable”, which further spoiled the credit delivery process in Odisha...