Credit and Finance for MSMEs: Prime Minister Narendra Modi government’s two pet schemes to support entrepreneurship and self-employment by helping set-up micro-enterprises — Stand-Up India and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna (PMMY) — have women as their biggest beneficiaries. For the nearly five-year-old Stand-Up India scheme, under which bank loans of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore are facilitated to at least one scheduled caste or scheduled tribe and one-woman borrower per branch of scheduled commercial banks, over 81 per cent account holders were women as on February 26, 2021, according to Ministry of Finance.
“Govt should be complimented for making such gender-responsive policies, to galvanize the way for women entrepreneurship, and particularly for taking cognizance of women’s role in the economy. We do know that 60 per cent of Indian women are sitting at home and that needs massive awakening. The government has recognized this and it is the onus of business chambers such as ours to be the connecting dots to raise consciousness around schemes available,” Jahnabi Phookan, National President, FICCI Ladies Organization told Financial Express Online.
