author(s)
Sakshi Sharad Joshi, Dr. AK Gauraha and Ayush Charu

abstract
Self Help Groups (SHGs), in essence, works on the principle of “Self-reliance by the people”. In a country like India that has a significant population living in poverty, the concept of SHGs allows these people to work towards helping better their lives socially and financially by optimally utilizing the resources already at their disposal. Keeping the above mentioned details in regards to SHGs in mind, the research work was undertaken to understand the details and operations of Women SHGs in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Raipur is home to four ethnic specializing restaurants run by the Monisha Womens’s SHG, of which, “Gadh Kaleva” is the restaurant selected to study purposes for this research work. Personal interviews were conducted with members of the Monisha Women’s SHG to gather primary information directly from the source, and at the same time, secondary information in the form of reports, journal and the internet was also relied on to develop initial understanding and support findings. In the selected SHG (Gadh Kaleva), of the total members, 44% comprise of women who are aged, 51% of respondents have only studied till middle school and this also happens to be the maximum level of literacy within the group, 65% of the members were married. This SHG offers a variety of seven Chhattisgarhi dishes out of which Chila contributes to about 30% of the SHGs output. Furthermore, in terms of sweets, Gadh Kaleva offers eight products out of which Airsa contributes to about 20% of their production output, the highest among the eight sweet offerings. The average Input-Output Ratio of Monisha women SHGs product in regards to breakfast products the maximum input-output ratio was 01:04.3 and Minimum input-output ratio was 01:02.3. In sweet products the maximum input-output ratio was 1:01.8 and minimum input-output ratio was 01:01.1. Similarly, VC Ratio of Monisha women SHGs product in regards to sweet product the Maximum VC ratio was 0.87 and Minimum VC ratio was 0.49 and in breakfast products the Maximum VC ratio was 0.65 and Minimum VC ratio was 0.41. On the basic of overall performance, it is found that, both for breakfast products and sweet products, products contributing towards maximum Input-Output Ration and maximum VC Ratio are the ones that are contributing heavily to profitability.