📄 Abstract
This work looks into problems tied to microfinance in villages across India - social hurdles, money issues, and how things run day-to-day - paying close attention to local traditions, whether interest rates are clear, how well loans get delivered, and patterns behind missed repayments. Instead of relying on stories or opinions, it uses numbers pulled from 135 women living in remote areas whove taken small loans, checking how deep-rooted beliefs about gender block their path to borrowing, how hidden charges reduce their control during negotiations, and which method - bank branches, self-help groups, or private lenders - feels easier or cheaper to use. Tools like Chi-square tests, linear models, ANOVA checks, and decision trees show tradition plus fuzzy rate info strongly shape who gets funds and who pays back late. Results suggest even though SHGs and lending outfits beat regular banks when it comes to reach, weak openness, poor awareness among users, and lack of personal freedom still drag down real change. In short, clearer pricing rules, better support tuned to womens needs, smarter ways to hand out credit, and sharper methods to predict risk could actually make micro-loans last longer and lift communities up.
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📚 How to Cite:
Mr. B Ravi Teja, Dr. G Ramesh , MICRO FINANCE CHALLENGES IN RURAL BANKING: THE ROLE OF SOCIAL FACTORS, LOAN DISPERSION, AND CREDIT COSTS , Volume 12 , Issue 12, December 2025, EPRA International Journal of Economics, Business and Management Studies (EBMS) , DOI: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra25367