On the launching of the Mudra bank scheme in Balswar on Friday, 300 persons were disbursed with loans for self-employment projects.
At a function held on the launch of the scheme in the district, local MP RK Jena attended as the chief guest, while Remuna MlA Gobinda Das, district Collector Sanatan Mallick and the senior managers of UCO and SBI besides Nabard and lead bank manager deliberated on the scheme.
lead bank manager HK Behera mentioned the objective of the Mudra concept and explained about the three category schemes, Sishu, Kishor and Tarun , under which a loanee can avail loan up to Rs10 lakh without collateral securities and processing fees. The other speakers also mentioned about the zero balance account opening, Jan Dhan and insurance schemes for covering accident and life for all eligible citizens of India.
District Collector Mallick on the occasion stated that loan through the Mudra scheme would be an encouragement to the unemployed youths, women and the downtrodden people. The large scale industries in India while employ around 1.5 crore people, the medium and large accommodate about 12 crore population of the country, he informed, underscoring the importance of MSMEs.
He, however, lamented on the attitude of the private banks which are reluctant to extend the loan facilities to the farmers of the State and also to the entrepreneurs of small scale units.
“ Baleswar is the first district to launch the scheme in a big way. The private banks are not performing up to the mark when it comes to the farmers,” said Mallick .
MP Jena expressed severe displeasure over the banks’ negative and unsupportive attitude as some of them are dragging their feet to implement the scheme.
He said while there was a target of disbursement of loans to 25 lakh people across India, within a week ( from September 25 to October 2) taking account of Odisha population share and further the district population, the loan facilities are to be given to at least 6,000 people. “I learnt that about 300 people are given loan today. This is a dismal picture. Rs20,000 crore was initially given to the Mudra bank by the RBI to implement the scheme through different PSU banks, private banks and RRB, including cooperative banks. The target for the disbursement of the amount in the current fiscal year is about Rs1.25 lakh crore. So far in India while Rs24,000 crore has been disbursed under Mudra scheme, the SBI alone contributed over 10 per cent,” Jena said.
Giving an example, he said in Andhra Pradesh the rural banks so far have disbursed about Rs 340 crore under the scheme whereas in Odisha the performance is quite pitiable. Therefore, AP is rich and flourishing, Jena remarked.