Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has acknowledged the role that ‘Stand Up India’ initiative has played in empowering the SC/ ST communities and ensuring women empowerment as the programme completes seven years on Wednesday.
“Today we mark #7YearsofStandUpIndia and acknowledge the role this initiative has played in empowering the SC/ ST communities and ensuring women empowerment. It has also boosted the spirit of enterprise our people are blessed with,” he wrote on the micro-blogging platform while reacting to the Finance Ministry’s tweet about Stand Up India.
The Ministry of Finance has stated that more than Rs 40,700 crores have been sanctioned to over 1,80,630 accounts under the Stand-Up India Scheme in seven years.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman expressed pride and satisfaction to note that more than 1.8 lakh women and SC/ST entrepreneurs have been sanctioned loans for more than Rs 40,600 crore.
Sitharaman said this scheme has developed an ecosystem that supports setting up green field enterprises through access to loans from bank branches of all scheduled commercial banks.
“The scheme has created an eco-system which facilitates and continues to provide a supportive environment for setting up green field enterprises through access to loans from bank branches of all Scheduled Commercial Banks,” said Sitharaman.
“Stand-Up India Scheme has proved to be an important milestone in promoting entrepreneurship among SC, ST and women,” she added.
On the seventh anniversary of the programme, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad said the scheme has assured that SC/ST and women’s business owners can easily access financing from Schedule Commercial Banks’ branches.
“Stand-up India scheme is based on the third pillar of National Mission for Financial Inclusion namely “Funding the Unfunded.” Scheme has ensured availability of seamless credit flow from branches of Schedule Commercial Banks to SC/ST and women entrepreneurs. Scheme has been instrumental in improving the standards of living for entrepreneurs, their employees and their families,” he said.
Karad stated this programme has benefited more than 1.8 lakh entrepreneurs over the previous seven years.
“More than 1.8 lakh entrepreneurs have benefitted from this scheme during past seven years,” said Karad.
“It is also a matter of immense pleasure for me that more than 80% of loans given under this scheme have been provided to women,” he added.
The Stand Up India Scheme was introduced on April 5, 2016, to encourage entrepreneurship at the grass-root level with an emphasis on economic empowerment and employment development.
This scheme has been extended up to the year 2025.
The purpose of Stand-Up India is to promote entrepreneurship among women and those in the SC and ST categories.
