The Stand up India scheme, which was launched by the central government on 5th April 2016, has completed six years today. The scheme was launched to encourage entrepreneurship at grassroot level to foster economic empowerment and job creation, especially among SC, ST and women entrepreneurs.
Celebrating the occasion, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “As we commemorate the sixth anniversary of the Stand-Up India Scheme, it is heartening to see that more than 1.33 lakh new job-creators and entrepreneurs have so far been facilitated under this Scheme.”
Stand up India scheme: Accomplishments
The scheme has been able to benefit more than 1 lakh women promoters in last six years. Under the initiative, the government has sactioned Rs. 30,160 crore to a total of 1,33,995 accounts so far (upto 21 March 2022). Of these, 19,310 accounts belonged to SC borrowers (sanctioned amount: Rs 3976.84 cr) and 6,435 acounts belonged to ST borrowers (sanctioned amount: Rs 1373.71 cr) . A total of Rs. 24809.89 cr were sanctioned to 1,08,250 accounts held by women entrepreneurs.
As per announcements made by FM Sitharaman in the Budget 2022, few positive changes have also been introduced in the scheme. These include
– The extent of margin money to be brought by the borrower has now been reduced to upto 15% (from upto 25%) of the project cost. However, the borrower also has to keep contributing at least 10% of the project cost as own contribution.
– Loans for enterprises in ‘Activities allied to agriculture’ e.g. beekeeping, rearing, poultry, dairy, fishery, grading, aggregation agro industries, pisciculture, livestock, rearing, grading, sorting, agriclinic and agribusiness centers, food & agro-processing, etc. (excluding crop loans, land improvement such as canals, irrigation, wells) and services supporting these, have now become eligible to be covered under the scheme.
Government has set up the Credit Guarantee Fund for Stand Up India (CGFSI) in order to extend collateral free coverage. Besides extending credit facility, the scheme also envisages extending handholding support to the potential borrowers. It also provides for convergence with Central/State Government schemes. Applications under the scheme can also be made online at www.standupmitra.in) portal.
” The Government understands the potential these rising entrepreneurs have in driving economic growth through their roles as not just wealth-creators but also job-creators… As more and more beneficiaries from the underserved segments of entrepreneurs are targeted for coverage, we would make significant strides towards building an Atmanirbhar Bharat,” said the Finance Minister applauding the success of the scheme.
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