More than 81 % account holders are Women under Stand Up India Scheme

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : As on February 17, 2020, more than 81% account holders under Stand Up India Scheme are women and  73,155 accounts have been opened for them. Rs 16,712.72 crore has been sanctioned for women account holders and Rs 9,106.13 crore has been disbursed to them.

The objective of this scheme is to facilitate bank loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch of SCBs for setting up a Greenfield enterprise.

Stand Up India Scheme was launched on April 5, 2016, to promote entrepreneurship at grassroot level for economic empowerment and job creation. This scheme seeks to leverage the institutional credit structure to reach out to the underserved sector of people such as Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Women Entrepreneurs to enable them to participate in the economic growth of nation, according to a PIB release.

The Ministry of Finance, in the past six years, has launched various schemes which have special provisions for empowerment of women. These schemes have financially empowered women to lead a better life and chase their dreams of being an entrepreneur.

Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) : PMMY was launched on April 8, 2015, for providing loans up to Rs 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises. These loans are classified as MUDRA loans under PMMY. These loans are given by Commercial Banks, RRBs, Small Finance Banks, MFIs and NBFCs.

Under the aegis of PMMY, 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 / entrepreneur and also provide a reference point for the next phase of graduation / growth.

As on January 31, 2020, more than Rs 22.53 crore loans have been sanctioned since launch of the scheme. Out of this, more than Rs 15.75 crore loans extended to women , thereby 70% of the total loan borrowers are women.

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) – PMJDY was launched on August 28, 2014. The scheme as extended and revised with effect from August 14, 2018, envisages universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account for every adult, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension. As on February 19, 2020, 20.33 crore beneficiaries out of 38.13 crore are women which amounts to 53 % .

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) – APY was launched on May 9, 2015. It envisages a universal social security system for all Indians, specially the poor and the under-privileged by offering guaranteed minimum monthly pension of Rs 1,000 -Rs 5,000 at the age of 60 years.

The scheme is open for subscription through Banks and Post Offices on on-going basis. As on February 22, .2020, more than 93 lakh subscribers (43%) out of a total of around 2.15 crore subscribers under APY are women.

Old age income security is being increasingly prioritised by women as their enrolment under APY has shown a steady increase from 37% (December 2016) to 43% (February 2020). Despite low labour force participation rates and high gender wage gap, women are in the forefront of saving for old age income security as their participation is higher than men in the States /UTs of Sikkim (73%), Tamil Nadu (56%), Kerala (56%), Andhra Pradesh (55%), Puducherry (54%), Meghalaya (54%), Jharkhand (54%), Bihar (52%).

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) – PMJJBY was launched on May 9, 2015. The objective of this scheme is to create a social security system for the poor and underprivileged in the age group of 18-50 years by providing a renewable life insurance cover of Rs.2 lakhs with just a premium of Rs 330.

Under PMJJBY, 40.70% enrollments are of women members and 58.21% of claim beneficiaries are women as  on January 31, 2020.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) : PMSBY was launched on May 9, 2015. The objective of this scheme is to provide a very affordable insurance scheme to the poor and underprivileged people in the age group of 18 to 70 years with a bank account at a premium of Rs 12 per annum; risk coverage of Rs 2 lakh for accidental death and full disability, and Rs 1 lakh for partial disability. Under PMSBY, 41.50% enrollments are of women and they account for 61.29% of the claim beneficiaries as on January 31, 2020.