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Synopsis SHG-Bank Linkage today is the country's dominant system of mass-outreach banking for the poor.  The acceleration process in the last four-five years has shown upward scaling in the SHG-Bank interactions.  Concerns are being expressed about the financial sustainablility of not only the SHGs but also the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme itself.  These need to be addressed for promoting good practices and capacity building in micro-finance and SHG-Bank Linkage Programmes.  The book addresses the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of the SHG-Bank Linkage model in India, in particular the strategies, which aim at poverty reduction and woman empowerment.  The concept of social capital needs to be related to group dynamics, in the form of Self Help Groups.  A study of the SHG-Bank Linkage model in the state of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka-(States with largest number of SHGs), will reveal not only the success stories, but act as models for others.  A distinctive feature of this book is the elaborate and critical discussion of the SHG-Bank Linkage model which is unique to India and which has generally been ignored in discussions on poverty alleviation and women empowerment.  My endeavour has been to evaluate this unique model, emphasizing the critical role of commercial banks both public and private sector, as well as those of NBFCs and NGOs, who have also been instrumental in the propagation of SHG movement in India.  The basic emphasis is on corrective measures to make this model sustainable.  This book will be useful to the banking sector as well as to all those associated with the SHG movement.  The book will provide insight into the working of this unique model not only in India, but will also prove beneficial to scholars, policy makers, practitioners in other developing and developed nations.  The book is a part of a project submitted under Senior Research Fellowship, ICSSR, New Delhi.