Progressive Cooperative Credit Society

Arti, Varanasi

Arti is a homemaker. She spends most of the time taking care of her family members. Her husband Ramkumar runs a carpentry business in Banaras. He is a skilled worker and makes a variety of products ranging from doors and windows to various furniture products. Arti & her husband have been a part of the Progressive group since the inception and are very thankful for the help provided to them. When Rajkumar began his venture with the help of his wife, he had small workshop and no machines. All work had to be done manually which required a lot of effort and time. The output was slow as was his income.

Then Arti was introduced to Progressive through her relatives and the remarkable work they did. Based on the mutual consent given by her husband Arti decided to join the group. Together they applied for a small loan of Rs 5000 and it was granted immediately. With time and with the help of Progressive Rajkumar has now bought all the machines required for his business and also owns a bigger workshop. He now works for bigger projects and earnings have increased. He recently opened a savings account at Progressive and deposits some money in it on monthly basis.

He says, ” Since I joined the Progressive group my business has seen a lot of growth. The low interest rates and easy transactions are very beneficial. The staff collects the money from our doorstep which saves a lot of my time which I put into my work for more growth. ” He plans to buya more advanced tools and increase production in the future.

Arti is a perfect example of the popular saying “Behind every successful man there is a woman”

Chinta Devi, Dehradun

Chinta Devi, about a year back, went through a tragic time when her husband Rameshwar was diagnosed with a severe liver disease. The medical expenses were close to four lakhs, an amount impossible to arrange. she was forced to pick loan from a private lender (Sahookar) at an insane interest rate of 10 percent per month – Rs.40,000 on 4 lakhs. She had no choice but to go ahead. A little over one month passed, she got in touch with a Women’s Self Help Group in her neighbourhood and got introduced to Progressive.

With some of her son’s inputs and financial assistance from Progressive she repayed the lender’s money in no time. Her husband is hale and hearty now. They have a general utility shop which is now doing better business than before. From her savings and loans she is able to put in more items for the shop. He shop is very popular in the area.

She says, “If it had not been Progressive I would have been under huge loan which would have been impossible to repay. I would suggest everybody to not fall in the trap of private lenders as they exploit us when we are the weakest”.

Geeta Singh, Lucknow

Geeta Singh is a clay artisan and makes clay idols of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. She sells them to suppliers during festive season in Lucknow. Her husband is a mason. She has seven children out of which five are girls and two are boys. She is involved in this business since last 11 years. Though this is not how it all started. She was doing the job of painting clay idols as a daily wage worker. Her financial condition at that time was very poor. She still remembers the days when she had a tough time making the ends meet for the family.

She learnt about Progressive through the neighborhood and was counselled by one of the company’s field officers. She was granted a small loan initially and a bigger one in the coming year. She is a skillful artisan, but lack of ability to invest in a business was holding her back. The intervention by Progressive helped her in setting up her start-up venture.

After almost 11 years now, through her grit, her business is a renowned name as ‘Bengal wali’. She is the only one that makes idols with real cloth and jewellery. She also makes her own moulds with art that is unique. She works through the year and sells them all during Diwali. With a proud smile she says her idols are sold even in Kolkata.

Part time she is also doing Zardozi work, earnings from which helps her towards the monthly loan repayment.

She says, ” Progressive staff is cooperative and respectful at all times. Always ready to help. They are very fair in their dealings. And the best part is I can withdraw an amount whenever I am in need of some money. All I need to do is just request once.”

Our Story