Odisha will provide interest-free loans up to Rs 10 lakh to the members of the 70 lakh women self-help groups in the state.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced this on Tuesday in what appears to be a pre-election sop.
Earlier, they were entitled to interest-free loans up to Rs 5 lakh.
The chief minister said: “The SHGs have received a loan amount of Rs 15,000 crore this financial year and in the next five years, Rs 75,000 crore will be given to them. Henceforth, the members will avail a loan of up to Rs 10 lakh from the banks without paying any interest. The interest amount incurred against these loans will be paid by the state government to the banks.”
To give them a business link to their product, Naveen said: “A total of 5,000 Mission Shakti Bazaars and retail outlets will be set up in the state in the next five years.”
He also launched the uniform scheme for women self-help group members. Naveen also mentioned how government businesses worth Rs 8,000 crore were given to the women’s self-help groups.
On this occasion, Rs 145 crore was distributed as an interest subvention directly to bank accounts of more than 2.75 lakh SHGs. In the last 5 years Rs 925 crore has been returned to SHGs as interest subvention.
Earlier, the government had announced assistance of Rs 1,000 for each of the 70 lakh women self-help group members, considered the major vote bank of the BJD.
