“…SHGs have become one of the policy initiatives for many governmental, non‐governmental and international institutions primarily in the global south to empower local communities beyond its financial goal (Desai & Joshi, 2014; Mansuri & Rao, 2013), as they enhance collective actions (Kumar et al, 2019; Mosedale, 2005; Sanyal, 2009, 2014) and health outcomes (Mehta et al, 2020; Saha et al, 2015). Policy makers and health administrators increasingly leverage the organizational platform of SHGs as an intervention tool, for instance, to sustain livelihood developments such as India's National Rural Livelihoods Mission (Kumar, 2010; Mishra, 2017; Pandey & Gupta, 2022; Reserve Bank of India, 2022) and to implement public health programs (Bali Swain & Varghese, 2013; Husain & Dutta, 2022; Ruducha et al, 2018, 2019).…”