The US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill had his first encounter with the rural life of India in this small place, 25 kilo metre south of Hyderabad. He was apparently bowled over by the determined efforts of the village women to fight their poverty and economic backwardness. Paul O'Neill, accompanied by several American officials visited Shamshabad to hear the rural women share their experiences about the micro-credit system and their struggle to come out of the vicious circle of the poverty. He spent about 90 minutes in an interaction attended by nearly 500 women beneficiaries of a micro-credit project run by a community which owned micro finance institution Share Microfin Limited.