As of June 2025, the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission(DAY-NRLM),one of the world’s largest poverty alleviation programmes, has mobilized 10.05 crore (cr) rural women households into more than 90.90 lakh Self Help Groups(SHGs) across 28 states and 6 Union Territories (UTs).
Exam Hints:
- What? DAY-NRLM achievement
- Launched in: 2010; Renamed DAY-NRLM in 2016
- Ministry: MoRD
- Households: Mobilised 10.5 cr women and 90.90 lakh SHG(As of June 2025)
- SHG credit: Rs. 11 lakh cr credit to SHG
- Women Farmers: 4.62 cr
- Sakhi: 3.5 lakh Krishi and Pashu Sakhi, 47,952 Bank Sakhi
- Largest SHG states: Bihar, UP, AP
- Funding Support: Capital Support – UP, Bihar; Bank Loans – AP
- Farm initiatives: Maharashtra, UP, AP
- Non-farm: Assam, Kerala, WB
About DAY-NRLM:
Launched: The NRLM was launched in 2010 as a mission-mode scheme by restructuring the erstwhile Swarnajayanti Grameen Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY). In 2016, the program was renamed DAY-NRLM.
- The central and state governments jointly fund this centrally sponsored scheme (CSS).
Objective: It is a flagship poverty alleviation program being implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), to reduce poverty by enabling poor households to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities.
Components: The mission seeks to achieve its objective through investing in four core components:
- Social mobilization and promotion and strengthening of self-managed and financially sustainable community institutions of the rural poor women;
- Financial inclusion;
- Sustainable livelihoods; and
- Social inclusion, social development and access to entitlements through convergence.
Community Implementation: The mission’s activities are led and scaled by SHG women trained as community resource persons (CRPs), including Krishi Sakhis, Pashu Sakhis, Bank Sakhis, Bima Sakhis, and Banking Correspondent Sakhis.
Women Empowerment:
SHGs credit: Under the DAY-NRLM, Rs. 11 lakh cr in credit to women SHGs through formal financial institutions.
- This is facilitated by women trained as Bank Sakhis and Banking Correspondent Sakhis, who act as liaisons between SHGs and formal banking institutions.
Farmers: The DAY-NRLM empowers women farmers, known as ‘Mahila Kisans’, by promoting agro-ecological practices and has covered 4.62 cr women under these interventions.
Micro-enterprises: The mission also promotes micro-enterprises in areas like handicrafts and food processing through sub-schemes such as the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Program (SVEP), which has supported over 3.74 lakh enterprises.
Sakhi: Under the DAY-NRLM, 3.5 lakh Krishi and Pashu Sakhis, along with 47,952 Bank Sakhis in bank branches, were deployed to facilitate credit linkage and support SHGs.
High Performing States:
Top SHG States: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh(UP), and Andhra Pradesh(AP) lead in SHG numbers and women’s household mobilization as of June 30, 2025.
Funding Support: For capitalisation support provided to SHGs, UP and Bihar have disbursed Rs. 1,23,326 lakh and Rs. 1,05,132 lakh respectively, while AP has facilitated the maximum bank loans for SHGs with a disbursement of Rs. 34,83,725 lakh.
Promotional Activities: In farm-based initiatives, Maharashtra stands out for covering the highest number of ‘Mahila Kisans’ (women farmers) under Agro-Ecological Practices, followed by UP and AP.
- For promoting non-farm micro-enterprises, Assam is the leading state with Kerala and West Bengal (WB) also showing strong performance.
Skill Development and Employment Programmes:
The Ministry implements two CSS under DAY-NRLM, which aim to equip rural poor youth with skills for gainful employment and contribute to poverty alleviation through the following programs:
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY): Provides placement-linked skill training for rural youth aged 15–35 years.
- The program ensures practical skill development aligned with job placements, enabling participants to earn wages at or above the minimum wage in the formal job market.
- A total of 17.50 lakh candidates has been trained and a total of 11.48 lakh have been placed, as of June 2025.
- UP has trained the highest number of candidates, followed by Odisha and AP. In terms of Job Placement, Odisha is the top performing state, followed by AP.
Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs): Bank-sponsored centres for youth aged 18–50 that provide entrepreneurship training and promote self- and wage-employment, with financial support for infrastructure and training costs.
- A total of 56.69 lakh candidates has been trained and a total of 40.99 lakh have been settled since inception till June 2025.
- Under this programme, UP has trained the highest number of candidates, followed by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (MP).
Market Support: SARAS Aajeevika Melas help SHG women showcase products and connect with buyers, while National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR) provides ongoing training in branding, marketing, and business sustainability.
Note:
Krishi Sakhi: A Community Agriculture Service Provider (CASP) who delivers last-mile support in rural areas where farm-related services are limited or expensive.
Bank Sakhi: A trained SHG member placed at a bank branch to assist SHGs with financial services.
Pashu Sakhi: A CASP who provides last-mile livestock services in rural areas with limited or costly veterinary care.
About the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD):
Union Minister– Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Constituency – Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, MP)
Ministers of State (MoS)– Dr. Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani (Constituency – Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, AP); Kamlesh Paswan (Constituency – Bansgaon, Uttar Pradesh, UP)
