SKS began operations in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, part of the drought-prone, semi-arid Deccan Plateau, one of the poorest parts of India. Over the last 10 years, SKS has continued to work in regions which suffer from high rates of hunger and malnutrition. These regions have significant numbers of poor who are landless laborers or marginal farmers drawing a livelihood from subsistence agriculture. The income (most of them earn less than $1 a day) is not enough to provide their families with basic necessities like food, healthcare and education. SKS provides them loans to enable them involve in income generating activities like live stock, agriculture, trade, production and services.

SKS currently only targets women both because they are the most marginalized and because they tend to use resources more productively than men. Social science research has shown that women tend to undertake small, manageable activities rather than risky ventures and they invest the majority of their income into the household and for their children.

Currently SKS operates out of 1,628 branches in 19 states across India.