M. Selvi of Thilapakkam in Tindivanam Taluk has taken a loan of Rs. 50,000 to improve her jasmine garden this year.
“This might seem like a small amount but I have been taking such loans regularly and managing my business of selling flowers in the Tindivanam market. Thanks to which I have been able to provide quality education to my children. They are both in engineering college now,” she explained.
Ms. Selvi will invest the money on a snake gourd field and also expand her flower garden this time.
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A member of the Semparuthi Self Help group that is a part of the Palmyra Women’s SHG Federation (Amritha Kalasam), she is confident that she will repay this loan like the previous ones she has taken.
Her Federation has an excellent track record of repaying their loans. Only in February they paid off their previous loan of Rs. 85 lakh and now again in March the Pallavan Grama Bank, a regional rural bank sponsored by Indian Bank, has granted the Federation, a whopping amount of Rs. 1 crore as loan.
S. Valliammal, Federation secretary, who has been coordinating with the Pallavan Grama Bank branch, said that 25 of the 50 groups in the Federation had taken the loan this time.
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“Women who took loans last time are still running their fancy store, photo copying centre and rent out a power tiller, lorry and mini load vehicle. Our members repay their loans promptly,” she explains.
This year the members are taking loans to lay pipelines to carry water to their fields, dig borewells, get a groundnut breaking machine, buy additional land, buy utensils to rent out for functions and buy sheep (semmari aadu — they sell at Rs. 10,000 a pair), explained N. Dhanam, project coordinator, Palmyra, an NGO.
Jurgen Putz, director, Palmyra said that the SHGs were formed in 2002 and they functioned well for several years. “After the funding stopped, the women who had developed the habit of saving money chose to continue as groups leading to the formation of the Federation. They have been taking loans for asset creation and have been repaying them on time, which is an achievement. Over the years they have become a force to reckon with,” he said.