Jeevika Mahila Sangathan

The group started with a loan of ₹40,000 and a single order for sixty jars of mango pickle from a nearby hostel mess. In the first year the women sold only during the mango season; today they cure pickles all year round in a purpose-built shed behind the panchayat office.

Everyone in the group is paid per jar rather than per hour, so the fastest hands earn the most and nobody is penalised for a slow day. Ten members now hold bank accounts in their own name for the first time.

The group invested its third year of profit in an FSSAI licence and a commercial weighing scale — the two things that turned a home kitchen into a supplier that shops can legally stock.