solar devices. Launched last year with partners including the Clinton Climate Initiative, it has so far covered more than 100 villages.

SEWA’s Project Urja (“energy”), with funding from US-based Lemelson Foundation, partners with India’s Solar Electric Light Co (SELCO) to improvise lighting and cooking devices.

“It’s cheaper, healthier and it’s low maintenance,” said Pinal Shah, in charge of energy projects at SEWA Bank, which has disbursed more than 6 million rupees ($124,000) in loans for solar appliances to about 10% of its 300,000 members.

SELCO’s other devices include headlamps for midwives, solar lights for farmers breeding silk worms for India’s silk industry and sewing machines powered by solar power.

In the congested Jamalpur neighbourhood in Ahmedabad, Salma Mohammad’s small corner shop is lit by a solar-powered battery that she bought with a loan of 33,000 rupees from SEWA Bank.

“This shop has helped me raise my children,” she said.

"The solar battery has improved our lives, given us much to be grateful.”