Sanjula Devi still remembers the first microfinance loan she took — ₹20,000 in 2012 — to repay earlier amounts borrowed from the village moneylender. “The first loan, yes, I took it to repay older debts,” she says, her voice steady but weary as she sits on the floor in her small home in Bihar’s Bijuli village, just off the National Highway near Darbhanga town. The loan came from Fusion Bank, a microfinance company, and was taken as part of a women’s group of twelve, each member borrowing ₹20,000 with a monthly repayment of ₹1,200.
Her husband worked as a labourer, and she did daily-wage work. With three children and no land or other income, even this small installment was a struggle. “Sometimes I earn ₹500 a day, sometimes less. I managed to save and pay back slowly,” she recalls. That first loan was repaid, but over time, more loans were taken from the government’s self-help group programme Jeevika, from Fusion, and Belstar, another microfinance company,
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