Over one lakh beneficiaries, especially coming from economically weaker sections of society would be given financial assistance by providing collateral-free loans under newly launched Prime Minister Mudra Yojna (PMMY).
Special camps starting from September 25 would be organised in all the districts of the State for issuing Mudra Card which would guarantee loan ranging between Rs 50,000 and Rs 10 lakh.
All the commercial banks of the State, including private, public and regional rural banks have been given targets.
The loan is meant for small entrepreneurs who have otherwise to depend on moneylenders for starting or running any business and are charged with exorbitant interest rates.
Now, the banks can charge maximum interest at the rate of 12 per cent for all the three categories of loans under the PMMY scheme.
"The loan given through Mudra Scheme has been classified into three groups - Shishu (loan up to Rs 50,000), Kishore (loan up to Rs 50,001 to Rs 5 lakh) and Tarun (loan up to Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh). Any loan to be sanctioned under the scheme need not any kind of guarantee or guarantor. We have set a target of one lakh such beneficiaries to be covered before October 2 so that a good picture can be presented before the Prime Minister who is slated to attend the camp at Dumka any day after September 25. Fresh targets would be given to the banks later on," Mihir Kumar, Director in Directorate of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance told The Pioneer.
He was in Ranchi to attend special State level Bankers' Committee meet convened to review the preparations on Monday.
Out of the 1 lakh target, 25,000 beneficiaries have been selected directly to be covered under Mudra Scheme while the rest 75 per cent would come from about 5000 SHGs, grouping 15 people as members in each.
When asked about security of the money given by the bankers to the small and marginal entrepreneurs with the purpose of making them self-dependent, Mihir Kumar said the Mudra Bank would cover the banks under credit guarantee scheme of the DFS.
"Mudra Bank is meant to refinance the commercial banks. Nonetheless we want to suggest the banks to choose their borrowers carefully and get assured with their bearing capacity and repaying capacity before sanctioning the money. Greater level of awareness is also need to be generated among the borrowers so that they do not treat the Mudra loan as any other loan melas. They need to understand that the facility is coming with tax payers' money and vows to help them in scaling self employment," he said.
On the other hand, the State Government has also chipped in with all the assistances to the bankers in organising camps successfully.
"We have told all the DCs to help banks by ensuring security and other preparations during the camps. We would also hold publicity campaigns apart from the banks through media and public awareness drives. The Government has also amended the PDR Act for appointing special certificate officers in all the districts for debt recovery," said Principal Secretary of Planning and Finance Department Amit Khare.
Development Commissioner RS Poddar urged bankers to take the programme in a mission mode and target the most vulnerable sections which were often deprived of bank loans. Rural Development Secretary NN Sinha stressed that the loan under the scheme was for promoting non-farm sector which had been neglected so far. The bankers have also been directed to focus more on 'Shishu' category loans covering the extremely poor and at least 60 per cent of total loans go to them.