Shobha Devi runs a tailor’s shop in the narrow lanes of Vapi, an industrial town in Gujarat. A former teacher, she now earns more from pins and petticoats. “I am proud that I am standing on my own feet,” she says. “That’s by God’s grace.” Some credit also goes to microfinance lenders. One, IIFL Samasta, lent her 65,000 rupees ($732) to expand her business. Part of that funds her daughter’s education and she repays 1,470 rupees every fortnight. She belongs to a group of women with joint responsibility for each other’s loans.
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