PMMY disburses over Rs 40 lakh crore via 57.79 crore loans

New Delhi, April 8 (IANS) The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) has disbursed over Rs 40 lakh crore through 57.79 crore loans, marking 11 years of its implementation, the government said on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Finance stated that the scheme which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, aimed at "funding the unfunded", provides collateral-free loans of up to Rs 20 lakh to micro and small non-corporate, non-farm enterprises.

Highlighting the progress, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the scheme has played a key role in reshaping the credit landscape for MSMEs and individual entrepreneurs who were earlier excluded from the formal banking system.

"In the last decade, India has witnessed a silent transformation where crores of ordinary citizens stepped into entrepreneurship with newfound confidence," she said.

She added that nearly two-thirds of the loans have been sanctioned to women entrepreneurs, while about one-fifth were extended to first-time entrepreneurs.

According to official data, around 12.15 crore loans worth about Rs 12 lakh crore have been extended to new entrepreneurs under the scheme.

Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said PMMY has emerged as a significant initiative for promoting micro-entrepreneurship and advancing financial inclusion. He noted that the scheme has created self-employment opportunities, particularly for marginalised sections, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, who account for around 51 per cent of beneficiaries, and women, who account for 67 per cent.

The scheme operates under four categories -- Shishu (loans up to Rs 50,000), Kishor (Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh), Tarun (Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh) and Tarun Plus (Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh) -- depending on the stage of growth and funding needs of borrowers.

Loans under PMMY cover term financing and working capital requirements across manufacturing, trading and service sectors, including allied agricultural activities.

The scheme is part of the broader financial inclusion framework built on three pillars, banking the unbanked, securing the unsecured and funding the unfunded, aimed at bringing underserved sections into the formal financial system.

The government said PMMY will continue to support entrepreneurs and contribute to the vision of a 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047.

--IANS

ag/na