Pustikar Credit Cooperative Society Limited seeks to empower women living below the poverty line through the Self-Help Group loans they offer. Disbursed solely to ladies who possess the skills to begin a craft business but lack the money necessary to start up or expand their own businesses, Pustikar Credit Cooperative’s Self-Help Group loans comprise the vast majority of their financial operations. Case study research specifically on Pustikar Credit Cooperative’s Self- Help Group process indicates that ladies involved in Samiti's Self-Help Group program initially discover about Pustikar Samiti via their friends and neighbors. Word-of-mouth publicity has indeed proven to be an effective means of advertising for Pustikar Credit Cooperative concerning the Self-Help Group loan scheme, as 221 Self-Help Groups have formed under Pustikar Credit Cooperative since the society’s birth, a figure that continues to grow.

After initially hearing about Pustikar Credit Cooperative, ladies who are interested visit Pustikar Credit Cooperative’s branch to learn more about the process of taking out a loan. Following this educational session, the ladies recruit other women, usually friends, family or neighbors partaking in the same craft, to form a 10-woman Self-Help Group. This group then elects a group leader who assumes the responsibility of tracking individual payments within the group as well as maintaining contact with Pustikar Credit Cooperative each month to pay the loan installments. After the initial Self-Help Group formation the ladies return to Pustikar Credit Cooperative to fill out a loan application. Once this application has been processed, Pustikar Credit Cooperative staff travels to the homes of the women in the Self-Help Group to investigate their business and work ethic, assessing whether or not these women will be reliable in repaying their loan installments. During this assessment visit, Pustikar Credit Cooperative’s staff members look for hardworking and organized women who have strong relationships with their fellow Self-Help Group members, and consequentially are more likely to hold each other accountable and pay back their loan. If the Self-Help Group applying to Pustikar Credit Cooperative passes this assessment visit, they return to Pustikar Credit Cooperative within days of the investigatory visit for the loan signing ceremony, at which time they receive their money.