Manipur targets 1 lakh Lakhpati Didis by 2029 at SARAS fair

Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh opened the 18th SARAS Aajeevika Mela, a fair of products made by women's self-help groups, at the City Convention Centre in Imphal on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. He said the state now has about 26,000 "Lakhpati Didis", women in self-help groups whose households earn at least Rs 1 lakh a year, and that the government aims to raise that number to one lakh by 2029. The fair runs until November 6.

A self-help group is a small group of women, usually from the same village or neighbourhood, who save together, lend to each other and take bank loans as a group. Over the years these groups have become one of the main routes by which rural women start small businesses: weaving, food processing, poultry, tailoring or running a shop. The term "Lakhpati Didi" is the government's label for a member whose household earns at least Rs 1 lakh a year on a lasting basis. It is meant as a simple test of whether the groups are turning savings into real income.

Manipur's target means almost quadrupling the number of such women in about three years. That is a large step, and the chief minister's own remarks point to the hardest part: credit. Women need loans to buy looms, raw material or equipment, and banks decide how much they will lend partly on past repayment. The figure he cited, a default rate of about 2% in Manipur against a national average of about 5%, is the case he is making to banks that the state's women borrowers are reliable and deserve more credit.

The fairs matter too. Making a product is only half of a business; selling it at a fair price is the other half. SARAS fairs give rural producers a place to sell directly to city buyers and to meet traders, which can lead to repeat orders. The chief minister also pointed to Imphal's Ima Market, which is run entirely by women traders, as an example of how central women already are to Manipur's economy.

For women in the state, the target is also a measure the public can hold the government to. The coming years will show whether the extra credit and market access arrive at the pace needed.

Short-term: Women's self-help groups from across Manipur get eleven days to sell handloom, handicraft and food products directly to buyers in Imphal, and a chance to find new trade contacts.

Long-term: If banks lend more to the groups and markets for their products grow, more women could cross the Rs 1 lakh household income mark. If credit stays tight, the 2029 target will be hard to reach.

Who is affected: Women members of self-help groups in Manipur and their families; banks lending to SHGs in the state; buyers and traders of local handloom and food products; and state agencies that run the livelihood programme.

Questions and Answers