Enhancing economic opportunities among the self-help groups (SHG), women through micro-credit is considered to be a major resource. The aspiration is to build resilient livelihoods through SHGs for graduating into small enterprises through efficient microfinance outreach. It is the dream objective with the efficient SHG–bank linkages to be acheived. Previously, SHGs were focused only on saving skills, but now the emphasis is to enhance economic opportunities through exposure to income-generating activities and build confidence to earn and handle money. In India, few states with a higher level of microfinance outreach are the states with relatively high levels of economic enhancement. In this facet, the methodological aspects of the journey of microfinance towards unleashing the power of women in India is systematically analysed, and the state-wise analysis of women’s economic enhancement performance is examined. In the light of empirical evidence, a wide variation in the outreach of microfinance intervention to the poor women is observed across the regions of the country. Women’s empowerment is seen as the progressive index for development. Across India, only 11 states have women empowerment index more than 1, while the remaining states score lower than 1. The strategy is to train and promote talented women to establish micro-enterprises for earning recurring income. For understanding the status of women across the country the mean analysis between the regions was done using two variables. The results confirm that the southern and eastern regions lead in dispersion (MD1) of funds, whereas microfinance access (MD2) is dominant in southern and central regions, indicating relatively high levels of economic enhancement. It is, thus, assumed that microfinance in true spirit can be a useful tool for achieving vibrant growth by narrowing the non-performing assets (NPAs) of the SHGs and channelizing the resources into micro-level planning and training for self-sustenance.

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The soundness of the banking system is necessary for economic advancement and financial stability. In the contemporary era, the Indian banking system has suffered from the accumulation of substantial nonperforming assets (NPAs), especially in the public sector banks (PSBs). This article examines the financial determinants of bad loans in the Indian PSBs with the help of panel data regression analysis. Panel dataset of 21 Indian PSBs for eight years from 2010 to 2017 is used for the study. For analysis, net non-performing assets (NNPAs) as a dependent variable and financial indicators as independent variable are used. Using the random effect model, it is found that credit-deposit ratio, loan maturity, and return on assets have a negative relationship with NNPAs. These factors have an association with a lower level of NPAs. Operating expenses and capital adequacy ratio have an insignificant effect on NNPAs. On the other hand, factors such as priority sector loans, collateral values, and non-interest income have a positive impact on NNPAs. These factors are an indication of a higher level of bad loans and are adding to the accumulation of NPAs in PSBs.

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