Role of Micro Finance of Self Help Groups to the Women Fish Vendors

The paper focuses on how women fish vendors manage to sustain their small scale business seeking help from available sources. The women fish vendors are offered micro finance support from Self Help Group in Kanyakumari district. The rate of interest is low and the procedure is simple to the semi-literate fish
vendors. Self Help Group is a small voluntary association, which forms and guides the members facing similar problem and also same socio-economic conditions. Supporting financially the women fish vendors it enables the women empowerment. The study area is fishing hamlet Rajakamangalam Thurai. All fish vendors are members of one or more SHGS. All the respondents of the study admit that micro finance makes desirable change in their lives. It projects that micro finance is the major source for sustainability of their business and means for eradicating the poverty of women fish vendors. This paper concludes that most of the sample respondents have been using the loan amount to income generating activities while some fail to develop their business. Therefore they are economically still poor. There is also need for the intervention of experts to provide the awareness for using the loan amount to income generating activities to empower them economically.

Keywords – Awareness, empower, fish vendors, loan, member