Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the frontrunner with over 13.65 lakh registered as ‘Lakhpati Didis’ — women Self-Help Group members earning a minimum annual income of Rs 1 lakh.
Bihar comes a distant second with 11.16 lakh such women, followed by 10.11 lakh women in West Bengal.
According to a report in The Times of India, Lakshadweep has yet to register any 'Lakhpati Didis', while Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Goa report 242 and 206 members respectively, marking the lowest figures among states and UTs.
In Uttar Pradesh, the count of 'Lakhpati Didis' reached 6.68 lakh, while in Gujarat, it stands at 4.94 lakh, in Tamil Nadu at 2.64 lakh, and in Kerala at 2.31 lakh. Madhya Pradesh boasts 9.54 lakh, Maharashtra 8.99 lakh, and Rajasthan 2.02 lakh 'Lakhpati Didis'.
Ladakh hosts 51,723 such women, while Jammu & Kashmir counts 29,070. Assam leads the northeast with 4.65 lakh, trailed by Meghalaya (33,856), Mizoram (16,087), Manipur (12,499), and Nagaland (10,494).
Who are ‘Lakhpati Didis’?
Lakhpati Didis scheme targeting the creation of 'Lakhpati Didis' was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech last year. The scheme is aimed at training women in self-help groups (SHGs) so that they can earn a sustainable income of at least Rs 1 lakh per annum. Under the scheme, the women are given skill-development training in plumbing, LED bulb making, and operating and repairing drones among other things, reports said.
In her sixth budget presentation this year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the government's decision to raise the target of creating ‘Lakhpati Didis’ from two crore to three crore. She highlighted that 83 lakh self-help groups (SHGs) comprising nine crore women are transforming the rural socio-economic landscape through empowerment and fostering self-reliance.
‘Govt aiming to have BC Sakhi in every panchayat of country’
According to Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh, ‘Business Correspondent Sakhis’ have played a key role in bringing down Non Performing Assets (NPAs) for Self-Help Groups, and the government is looking at having at least one such correspondent in every panchayat.
"Women of the Self Help Groups can be ambassadors for entrepreneurship in India... When the Modi government came to power, the non-performing assets (NPA) of the SHGs was 9.58 per cent in 2014, it has now gone down to 1.8 per cent," he told PTI.
According to the Rural Development Ministry, there are around 1,22,915 BC Sakhis at present. The ministry is, however, aiming to have at least one BC Sakhi in all of the around 2.5 lakh panchayats in the country.
While the BC Sakhis go around a village to provide access to banking, Bank Sakhis are stationed at the bank branches to help people with paperwork and other processes to access institutional finance.
At present, there are 46,352 Bank Sakhis across 56,764 rural bank branches.
According to figures available with the ministry, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of 42,666 BC Sakhis, followed by Madhya Pradesh (10,850), and Rajasthan (10,559)