New Delhi: Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah recently said that the central government has disbursed 270 million MUDRA loans to women entrepreneurs that have empowered the Indian economy with their ‘womanly force’.
The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 8, 2015. The scheme aims to provide loans up to Rs 10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small and micro enterprises.
Taking to Twitter, Shah said, “The celebration of womanhood is not a mere slogan for Prime Minister Modi, and in the nine years of women-led development, it is now a reality where women have shattered the glass ceiling in all walks of life from space to start-ups and defence to domestic affairs, leading the nation to new heights.”
He added, “Transforming the tenet of progress PM @narendramodi Ji has unfolded an era of #9YearsOfWomenLedDevelopment for the world to marvel at. India registered a record of disbursing 27 Cr. Mudra loans to women entrepreneurs who today empower the Indian economy with their womanly force.”
The MUDRA loans are given by commercial banks, regional rural banks, small finance banks, microfinance institutions, and non-banking financial institutions.
MUDRA has created three products namely- Shishu, Kishore, and Tarun to signify the stage of growth, development, and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit and entrepreneur, and also provide a reference point for the next phase of graduation and growth.
The purpose of a MUDRA loan is to start a new business, enhance an existing or meet working capital requirements, a PaisaBazaar report stated.
Under the Shishu scheme, applicants can avail of small business loans up to Rs 50,000 to start their new business or to meet daily business requirements.
Under the Kishore scheme, borrowers can avail of loans of amounts from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakhs for their existing businesses and for expansion purposes
The Tarun scheme can be availed by established Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), wherein the loan can be availed from Rs 5 lakhs to Rs 10 lakhs.
The Ministry of Finance in a statement dated April 8, 2023, said, that since the launch of the MUDRA Yojana till March 24, 2023, nearly Rs 23.2 trillion has been sanctioned in 408.2 million loan accounts.
It also said that about 68 per cent of accounts under the scheme belong to women entrepreneurs and 51 per cent of accounts belong to entrepreneurs of SC/ST and OBC categories. This demonstrates that the easy availability of credit to the budding entrepreneurs of the country has led to innovation and a sustained increase in per capita income.
