Historically, women are considered the weaker sex, as a result, for the past centuries, women are deprived of most of the rights which their male counterparts could enjoy. Women’s empowerment is crucial for achieving a just, equitable, and sustainable world. Financial/credit facilities are deemed one of the key components of empowering the rural poor, especially women, to realize the objective of inclusive growth. The objective of inclusive growth stresses financial inclusion which necessitates the extension of financial services to women. In view of the credit need and creditworthiness of the poor and women, the concept of microcredit/ micro financial services emerged for the financial inclusion of the poor and women. SHGs also entered into the area of economic upliftment of the poor and women and became instrumental in spreading micro-financial services among the poor through linkage with banks and other formal financial institutions. This study intended to analyze the functioning of microfinance institutes and SHGs in spreading microcredit among women. It is found that some private microfinance institutes which entered with profit motive than social desirability resorted to malpractices. Multiple lending/borrowing led to debt traps and abetted suicides. SHGs are successful only in the recovery of loans but not in creating proper awareness among the poor about Micro Financial Services. It is concluded that despite some ‘lapses’ access to Micro financial services and the role of SHGs in spreading Micro credit among poor women is significant. It is suggested that proper monitoring and regulation of MFIs and the role of SHGs is desirable for effective results.
