Poverty and unemployment are the major problems of under developed countries, to which India is no exception. In India, at the end of ninth five-year plan, 26.1% of the population was living below the poverty line. In the rural area, 27.1% of the population was living under poverty. The overall unemployment rate is estimated to be 7.32%. The female unemployment rate is 8.5%. The rate of growth of women unemployment in the rural area is 9.8%. This is because of the low growth rate of new and productive employment. At the end of the IX plan, the rate of growth implemented by various schemes was to reduce poverty and to promote the gainful employment. But the more attractive scheme with less effort (finance) is “Self Help Group”. It is a tool to remove poverty and improve the rural development (Sabyasachi Das. 2003).
INDIAN JOURNAL OF MARKETING (ISSN 0973-8703) is a double blind peer reviewed refereed monthly journal, which was started in 1968. It is the oldest and the only monthly journal of Marketing in India. It is an authentic research publication dealing with Marketing; Advertising; Consumer Behaviour; Sales Management; Advertising & Promotion Management; Business Education; Business Information Systems (MIS); Business Law; Communication; Direct Marketing; E-Commerce; Global Business; Health Care Administration; Marketing Research; Marketing Theory & Applications; Office Administration/Management; Organizational Development; Production/Operations; Public Administration; Retailing; Sales/Selling; Services; Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure; and Industrial Organization.