Over Rs 28,996 crore loans given to SC, ST and women under Stand-up India scheme: FM Sitharaman

New Delhi, July 22 (IANS) An amount of Rs 28,996.15 crore has been sanctioned as loans to scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and women entrepreneurs from April 2022 till March 2025 under the Stand-Up India Scheme which provides financial and institutional aid to marginalised sections, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Parliament on Tuesday.

The number of bank accounts of SC, ST and women entrepreneurs to which the loans were sanctioned shot up to 126,508 during these three years, the Finance Minister said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Stand-Up India scheme on April 5, 2016 as part of the government's efforts to support entrepreneurship among women and SC and ST communities. The objective of the 'Stand-Up' India scheme was to provide loans from Scheduled Commercial Banks of value between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and one woman borrower per bank branch for setting up a greenfield enterprise in manufacturing, services or trading sector and also for activities allied to agriculture.

"The scheme provided loans of value between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore at the lowest applicable rate of the bank for that category (rating), not exceeding base rate MCLR+3 per cent+ Tenor premium, with a repayment period of 7 years with a maximum moratorium of up to 18 months," said an official statement.

Apart from linking prospective borrowers with banks for loans, the online portal (www.standupmitra.in) provided guidance to prospective SC, ST and Women entrepreneurs in their endeavour to set up business enterprises, starting from training to filling up of loan applications as per Bank requirements.

The portal also facilitated step by step guidance for connecting prospective borrowers to various agencies with specific expertise -- Skilling Centres, Mentorship support, Entrepreneurship Development Programme Centres, District Industries Centre, together with addresses and contact number, the Finance Minister added.

--IANS

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