Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM)

What is DAY-NRLM?

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is a centrally sponsored poverty reduction mission of the Ministry of Rural Development, implemented since 2011 and renamed Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana in 2015. DAY-NRLM works by organising rural poor women into self-help groups (SHGs), building those groups into village and cluster-level federations, and channelling capital and skills through that institutional structure.

According to the Ministry of Rural Development, DAY-NRLM is being implemented in all states and union territories except Delhi and Chandigarh. As of 28 February 2025 the mission covered 7,144 blocks in 745 districts across 28 states and 6 union territories, and had mobilised 10.05 crore rural women households into more than 90.90 lakh self-help groups.

Key objectives

• Mobilise at least one woman member from every rural poor household into a self-help group.
• Give those groups a corpus of their own and then link them to formal bank credit at a subsidised effective rate.
• Move households from subsistence to sustainable livelihoods in farm, non-farm and wage employment - the goal captured by the Lakhpati Didi initiative of taking annual household income past Rs 1 lakh.

Main features

• Universal social mobilisation, using the Participatory Identification of Poor (PIP) process rather than a top-down list.
• A three-tier community architecture: SHG → Village Organisation → Cluster Level Federation.
• Capitalisation support to groups: Revolving Fund, Community Investment Fund and Vulnerability Reduction Fund.
• Interest subvention taking the effective cost of SHG bank credit down to 7% on loans up to Rs 3 lakh.
• Total capitalisation support of Rs 51,368.39 crore had been provided to SHGs and their federations as of 28 February 2025, per Ministry of Rural Development figures.
• The Union Budget 2026-27 raised the DAY-NRLM allocation by about 20%, adding Rs 2,880 crore to take it to Rs 17,280 crore.

Who is eligible for DAY-NRLM?

You can join if:

• You are a woman from a rural poor household in a block where the mission has been rolled out.
• Your household has been identified through the Participatory Identification of Poor (PIP) process conducted by the community, which also draws on SECC deprivation criteria.
• You are willing to join a self-help group of 10 to 20 members from your own village and follow its savings and meeting discipline.
• Normally, one woman member per household joins - the group is built to reach every poor household, not to load multiple members from one family.

You cannot apply if:

• You live in Delhi or Chandigarh, where DAY-NRLM is not implemented.
• You live in an urban area - urban livelihoods are covered by DAY-NULM, the National Urban Livelihoods Mission, instead.
• Your household has not been identified as poor through the PIP process in your village.
• You are looking for an individual government loan or grant paid directly to you. DAY-NRLM funds flow to the group and its federation, not to individuals as a personal benefit.

What financial support does DAY-NRLM provide?

The Revolving Fund is meant to build the habit of thrift and internal lending, and to teach the group to manage external money. The Community Investment Fund funds livelihood plans - consumption needs, emergencies, debt redemption from moneylenders and enterprise activity. The Vulnerability Reduction Fund addresses food insecurity, health shocks and natural calamities.

How to apply for DAY-NRLM

DAY-NRLM has no individual online application form. Membership runs through the village institution, so the steps below are the real route in.

1. Find out whether a DAY-NRLM self-help group already exists in your village by asking at the Gram Panchayat office or speaking to the Community Resource Person (CRP) or Bank Sakhi working in your area.
2. If a group exists and has room, attend its weekly meeting and ask to be enrolled as a member. If no group exists, gather 10 to 20 women from poor households in your habitation and ask the block-level DAY-NRLM staff to help form one.
3. Take part in the Participatory Identification of Poor exercise so that your household is recorded on the community-verified list.
4. Complete group formation - agree bye-laws, a weekly savings amount, meeting day and office bearers, and start the group's savings and internal lending.
5. Open the SHG's joint savings bank account and submit Aadhaar, photographs and the group resolution to the bank.
6. After the group completes the qualifying period of regular savings, meetings and repayment, apply to the block office for the Revolving Fund through your Village Organisation.
7. Prepare a Micro Credit Plan or livelihood plan through the Village Organisation to access the Community Investment Fund and a bank loan under the SHG bank linkage programme.

The State Rural Livelihoods Mission office in your district and the block DAY-NRLM unit are the offices to approach at every step. Formation and capitalisation are free - no payment to any facilitator is required.

What programmes run under DAY-NRLM?

• SVEP (Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme) - business skill training, seed capital and credit for rural micro enterprises.
• AGEY (Aajeevika Grameen Express Yojana) - SHG members operate rural transport services on un-served routes.
• MKSP (Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana) - sustainable agriculture and capacity building for women farmers.
• DDU-GKY (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana) - placement-linked skill training for rural youth.
• RSETIs (Rural Self Employment Training Institutes) - short-course training in self-employment trades with follow-up credit linkage.
• NRETP (National Rural Economic Transformation Project) - support for enterprise finance, producer collectives and digital finance.

What is the Lakhpati Didi initiative?

Lakhpati Didi is the goal within DAY-NRLM of enabling SHG households to earn a sustained annual household income of at least Rs 1 lakh. The route to it is diversification - a household combines two or more livelihood activities such as farming, livestock, a micro enterprise and a service role, supported by SHG credit, training and market linkage. Progress is tracked on lakhpatididi.gov.in, which also lists the financial assistance available to each layer of the community structure.

Help and grievance redressal

• National Mission Management Unit, Ministry of Rural Development: 011-23461708, 7th Floor, NDCC Building-II, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi 110001
• Official portal: aajeevika.gov.in, which carries state mission contacts, guidelines and dashboards
• Ministry portal: rural.gov.in
• First point of contact: the block DAY-NRLM unit, your Cluster Level Federation, or the Community Resource Person in your village

The nrlm.gov.in address is used for the mission's MIS dashboards and does not always resolve as a public information site; the figures in this guide are taken from Ministry of Rural Development releases and lakhpatididi.gov.in.