The rural poor women in the area are unable to access credit from the existing banks as they are considered not to be credit worthy. Given the overall situation of secondary status of women, a concentrated and integrated approach is required for the economic and overall development of women. It was in this context that the Collective initiated a thrift and credit activity with rural poor women of Chennekothaplli mandal in the year 1994.

The thrift and credit activity was in the form of initiating thrift groups of 20 members each on an average. Initial monthly savings per member was Rs 10/- and later increased to Rs. 30 to 40. In the meetings of the groups, the money collected was loaned to needy members which was to be refunded in monthly installments. The members were the encouraged to increase their monthly savings. Each group elected two leaders.

Monthly meetings of the leaders of these groups became the forum where the activity was constantly reviewed. This review along with the exposure trips organized with the leaders of the groups resulted in the decision of federating the groups and registering the federation under the Mutually Aided Thrift Cooperative Act. The Adisakthi Mutually Aided Thrift Cooperative Society, Chennekothapalli was registered in 1998.

Meanwhile the thrift activity was expanded to another two mandals also. The same process happened there also and the Ananthasakthi thrift Society, Roddam mandal was registered in 1999 and Mahilasakthi thrift society was registered in Ramagiri mandal in 2001.

As of now there are a total of 82 villages covered under the thrift and credit activity. A total of 4473 women are organized under 212 groups. Total finances mobilized by these three Cooperatives is Rs 72,47,109/- The Cooperatives are now attempting to become autonomous and sustainable alternative banks. The Adisakthi Society is now able to meet 75% of its running costs. All the three Cooperatives are now in the look out for external support to meet the increased credit needs. This will also make the Cooperatives financially self sufficient completely.

These cooperatives are registered under the MACS Act (Mutually Aided Thrift Cooperative Act 1995) which is a progressive Act that makes it possible to form autonomous thrift cooperatives based on the principles of self help and mutual help. These cooperatives are highly valued by the women members in the absence of any such institution and are on the way to becoming autonomous alternative banks.

This is attempted by service charges/interests collected on loans. As of now the members get 9% interest on their thrift deposits and pay 18% interest for the loans taken. It is this margin that helps the society to become financially autonomous.

As mentioned already each group elects two leaders who are called group leaders. The Board of Directors, minimum 11 members including a president and vice president are elected from these leaders. As per the rules of the Society the directors have to follow certain conditions for giving loans. For example they should have saved for one and half years and should not be defaulters in any bank. The director keep changing as the maximum period of office is three years.

In addition to this every 5 members within the thrift group form themselves into subgroups with one of them being the subgroup leader. These subgroup leaders form the representative general body while all the members form the general body of the society. Each member is a share holder in the Society. She pays a share capital of Rs.100 and membership fee of Rs.5/- at the time of joining.

The personnel for the Cooperatives include thrift cadres, thrift accountants and CEO. The thrift cadres are drawn from the local community. Each thrift cadre deals with about 300 members. The thrift cadres conduct the thrift group meetings and collect the savings and loan refunds. S/he disburses small loans within Rs 2000/- in the village itself as decided by the meeting. The remaining money is brought to the Society office along with the loan applications for above Rs 2000/-as well as the receipts and other financial records.

The thrift accountant maintains the records of the society which include receipt book, scroll, cash paper, ledger, receipts, demand notices, membership application, promissory notes, loan application, and individual ledger. The minutes books are maintained at the village level and the members have individual passbooks.

All the thrift groups in a village are federated under a village organization of women. This forum also meets once a month especially to discuss and deliberate on specific issues of any of the women in the village, member or otherwise. This meeting also looks at accessing relevant schemes from the government and other matters.

The CEO appointed by the board of directors is overall responsible for the programme. The CEO also helps the Cooperative with external linkages and contacts. The Cooperatives are now looking forward to forming into a network among themselves and also establishing linkages with district level networks like Mahila Aikya Vedika.