Financial Inclusion in India: A Case Study on the Sustainability and Viability of Financing Self-Help Groups Projects ================================================= On 1st April 2013, Government of India replaced Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) and launched National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) – ‘Ajeevika’, the project committed towards formation and promotion of Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs). Under the new scheme, the financial institutions are made to focus on financing the WSHGs throughout the rural India. The nationalised Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) Banks were considered as the flag-bearer of such projects throughout the country. However, financing such projects has not been viable for the banks in the past due to huge non-repayment of such loans and accumulation of high amount of Non-performing Assets (NPAs). Under such a situation, Ajeevika has been introduced as a tool for women empowerment where PSU Banks were considered as a mediator in channelizing government funding towards the NRLM projects. Since the funding is channelized through the banks, the responsibility of non-repayment lies with the bank managers, who in most of the cases has refrain them in lending due to high probability of non-repayment of such loans. Considering the above situation, a study has been conducted among the PSU Banks concentrating on West Bengal, a State whose six out of 20 districts (Bankura, Birbhum, Jalpaiguri, Maldah, Purba Midnapur and Purulia) has been identified as “backward” by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Along with State Bank of India (SBI) two PSU Banks, UCO Bank and United Bank of India (UBI) has their major presence in West Bengal. SBI, UCO Bank and UBI have been financing the rural projects through their rural and semi-urban branches and UCO and UBI has even been backing the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs). A survey has been conducted on the sustainability of the SHG projects considering some of the