Eversince Independence, a number of innovative schemes have been launched for the upliftment of women in India. There has been a perceptible shift form viewing women from Orthodox non-participative to active participative and critical agents for soco-echonomic and political development. The emphasis has been shifted form development to empowerment. The government of Andhra Pradesh has taken up the thee of Women’s employment as one of the main agenda items to tackle rural poverty through social mobalization through Self Help Groups (SHG) movement. Andhra Pradeh is the pioneer state to introduce Self Help Groups to achieve self sufficiency and to empower social transformation among the rural women.