Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM)

Last updated: 2026-11-13 · MockMentor

The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), also called Aajeevika, organises poor rural women into Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and links them to bank credit and livelihoods. It began in June 2011 as NRLM by restructuring the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (1999), and was renamed in 2015.

In one line: bring at least one woman from every poor rural household into an SHG, then build savings, credit and income through a federation of groups.

At a glance

Item Details
Launched June 2011; renamed DAY-NRLM in 2015
Ministry Rural Development
Type Centrally Sponsored; 60:40, 90:10 for the North-East, 100% for UTs
SHG size 10 to 20 women (5 in special cases)
Structure SHG, Village Organisation (10 to 15 SHGs), Cluster Level Federation (5 to 10 VOs)
Targets 50% SC/ST, 15% minorities, 3% persons with disabilities

Money for SHGs

  • Revolving Fund: ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 for SHGs active 3 to 6 months that follow the "Panchasutra" (meetings, savings, internal lending, repayment, books).
  • Community Investment Fund: up to ₹2.5 lakh through federations.
  • Interest subvention: loans up to ₹3 lakh at 7%, with 3% more off for prompt repayment (4% effective).
  • Collateral-free loans up to ₹20 lakh per SHG; above ₹10 lakh covered by the Credit Guarantee Fund for Micro Units.
  • Individual members of mature SHGs can borrow up to ₹10 lakh; a ₹5,000 overdraft for SHG women with Jan Dhan accounts.

Lakhpati Didi

The aim is SHG women earning at least ₹1 lakh a year. The first target of 3 crore was met, and the new target is 6 crore by 2029, by moving women into value-chain activities such as food processing or drone services.

Sub-programmes

Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP, 2010-11), DDU-GKY for placement-linked skilling, and Namo Drone Didi.

Possible exam questions

  1. Assess the role of SHG-bank linkage in women's economic empowerment.
  2. Why do many SHG enterprises stay small, and how can Lakhpati Didi change this?

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