From SHGs to drone technology: Inside India’s growing push for women’s economic empowerment
India is accelerating women's financial empowerment through a multi-pronged approach spanning self-help groups (SHGs), drone technology, savings schemes, and digital financial inclusion.
The NaMo Drone Didi programme is training rural women SHG members as drone pilots to provide agricultural services to farmers, generating supplementary incomes of at least ₹1 lakh per SHG per year.
As of January 2025, over 90.9 lakh SHGs cover 10.05 crore women households under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), forming the largest community institution network in the world.
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana continues to serve as a key long-term savings instrument for the girl child, with a current interest rate of 8.2% per annum.
Collateral-free loans of up to ₹20 lakh are available to women entrepreneurs through schemes promoting micro and small enterprise creation.
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and National Rural Livelihoods Mission
Self-Help Groups are informal financial intermediaries — groups of 10-20 individuals (predominantly women) who pool savings and extend internal credit on rotational or needs-based terms. In the development finance model, SHGs are linked to formal banking institutions (Bank Linkage Programme), enabling members to access credit at institutional rates. The Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), launched in 2011 and managed by the Ministry of Rural Development, is the government's flagship programme to organise rural poor women into SHGs and build livelihood assets.
Key Details
- 90.9 lakh SHGs covering 10.05 crore women households as of January 2025 — world's largest such network
- Over ₹6.9 lakh crore credit disbursed in FY2024; NPA below 2.3%
- Repayment rate: above 96%
- Over 1 lakh SHG women trained and deployed as Bank Sakhis (business correspondents) since 2016
- Bank Linkage Programme (BLP): SHGs open savings accounts, build credit history, and access bank loans typically 4x their corpus
The expanding scale of DAY-NRLM provides the institutional backbone through which new initiatives like Drone Didi are delivered — SHGs are the delivery vehicle for technology skilling and enterprise development.
NaMo Drone Didi Scheme
Launched on November 30, 2023, the NaMo Drone Didi scheme is a Central Sector Scheme under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare aimed at equipping women-led SHGs with agricultural drones to provide rental services to farmers. It directly integrates drone technology into the rural SHG network, creating a new income stream for rural women while improving precision agriculture outcomes.
Key Details
- Target: 15,000 women SHGs with drones, FY 2024-25 to FY 2025-26
- Budget: ₹1,261 crore
- Central Financial Assistance: 80% of drone cost, capped at ₹8 lakh per drone
- Training: 15 days (5 days drone operation + 10 days agrochemical application)
- Two members per SHG trained: one drone pilot, one maintenance technician
- Each SHG expected to manage 2,000-2,500 acres annually
- Projected additional income: ≥₹1 lakh per SHG per year
Drone Didi represents a structural evolution of the SHG model — from savings and credit intermediation towards skill-based enterprise, positioning rural women as technology service providers in the agricultural value chain.
Financial Inclusion and Women-Centric Savings Schemes
Financial inclusion — access to affordable formal financial services — is a foundational element of women's economic empowerment. Key instruments include the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), which has made banking access near-universal, and targeted savings schemes like Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY). SSY, launched under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign in 2015, is a government-backed small deposit scheme for the girl child with EEE (Exempt-Exempt-Exempt) tax status.
Key Details
- Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana interest rate: 8.2% per annum (among highest for small savings schemes, FY 2024-25)
- Minimum deposit: ₹250; maximum: ₹1.5 lakh per year; account matures at 21 years (girl's age) or at marriage after age 18
- PMJDY: over 53 crore accounts opened; ~56% held by women
- Mudra Yojana: collateral-free loans up to ₹10 lakh for micro-enterprises; majority of beneficiaries are women
Together, these schemes address different stages of women's financial lifecycle — savings and asset creation for the girl child, working capital for adult entrepreneurs, and enterprise upskilling through SHGs.
- SHGs under DAY-NRLM: 90.9 lakh groups, 10.05 crore women households (January 2025)
- Credit disbursed to SHGs in FY2024: ₹6.9 lakh crore; NPA: below 2.3%
- NaMo Drone Didi target: 15,000 SHGs; budget: ₹1,261 crore; income target: ₹1 lakh/SHG/year
- Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana rate: 8.2% p.a. (FY 2024-25)
- Bank Sakhis deployed since 2016: over 1 lakh
- Women account holders under PMJDY: ~56% of all 53+ crore accounts
- Collateral-free loans for women entrepreneurs: up to ₹20 lakh