Govt sanctions loans of more than 40,600 crore to over 1.8 lakh women entrepreneurs

Tags: National Government Schemes National News

The Government has sanctioned loans of more than 40,600 crore rupees to over 1.8 lakh women entrepreneurs under the Stand Up India Scheme.

An overview of the news

• Speaking on the 7th anniversary of the Stand-up India scheme, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that over 1.8 lakh women and SC/ST entrepreneurs received loans under the scheme.

• The scheme has created an eco-system which provides a supportive environment for setting up green field enterprises by availing loans from bank branches of all scheduled commercial banks.

About Stand Up India Scheme

• It was launched on April 5, 2016, to promote entrepreneurship among women, Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories.

• It has been launched to help them start a greenfield venture in manufacturing, services or business sector and agriculture allied activities.

• The objective is to encourage all bank branches to extend loans to SC, ST and women for setting up their own greenfield enterprises.

• The Stand-up India scheme is based on the third pillar of the National Mission for Financial Inclusion namely "Funding the Unfunded".

• More than 80 per cent of the loans given under the scheme have been given to women.

Eligibility for the scheme

• SC/ST women entrepreneurs above 18 years of age.

• Loans under the scheme are available only for greenfield projects.

• Borrower should not be in default to any bank or financial institution.