The Ministry of Rural Development's Lakhpati Didi initiative, under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), aims to empower Self-Help Group (SHG) women to earn a minimum sustainable income of ₹1 lakh per annum for at least four agricultural seasons or business cycles.
The program has achieved significant scale, mobilizing 10.08 crore rural households into approximately 92 lakh SHGs across India, with more than 3.46 crore SHG members already enabled as Lakhpati Didis. State-specific data shows Madhya Pradesh has 23,67,520 Lakhpati Didis, including approximately 46,000 in Chhindwara district.
Entrepreneurship support is provided through the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), which has facilitated 4.32 lakh enterprises nationwide as of June 2026, including 30,573 in Madhya Pradesh. The program utilizes Community Resource Persons for Enterprise promotion and provides finance through Community Enterprise Fund.
Financial inclusion measures include providing Revolving Fund and Community Investment Fund to SHGs to create loan corpus, and facilitating bank credit linkage at subsidized interest rates. Since 2013-14, SHGs have accessed bank credit totaling ₹13.41 lakh crore. The program also imparts financial literacy training covering accounting, record-keeping, budgeting, and loan management.
Digital finance promotion includes deploying SHG women as Banking Correspondent Sakhis with bank support. Regular capacity-building programs are conducted on SHG management, financial literacy, and enterprise development.
Market access is strengthened through a comprehensive branding ecosystem featuring national brands 'Saras', 'Saras Aajeevika', and 'Aajeevika', while 25 states have developed their own brands. Marketing includes two National-level Saras Melas, one Saras Food Festival, over 50 State-level Saras Melas annually, a permanent Saras Aajeevika Gallery in Central Delhi, and state-level retail outlets. E-commerce expansion involves partnerships with GeM, ONDC, Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, and JioMart through the eSaras platform.