Mobilization of Personal Savings among Microfinance- Participating Households: A Survey in West Bengal, India
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This paper attempts to assess whether participation in a microfinance
program helps households generate personal savings, as distinct from
savings through compulsory contributions to the program. We consider a
microfinance program initiated by the Government of India (the SGSY
scheme), which is operated under a joint liability credit system that requires
formation of Self-Help Groups (SHG). The empirical design relies on two
samples of respondents: a “treatment group” of households participating in
the microfinance program and a “control group” of non-participating
households of similar characteristics. Using data collected at two points in
time (April-July 2004 baseline and September-December 2009 endline), we
show that although income increases more in treatment-group households,
the increase in personal savings of the microfinance-participating
households over the study period is less than for the non-participating
households.