Stand Up India scheme

In News:

• The number of aspiring entrepreneurs belonging to the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe (SC/ST) and women entrepreneurs supported under the Standup India scheme launched by PM Modi has grown by 60 per cent in the past two years.
• The total number of loans extended since its launch on April 5, 2017, till March 7, 2018, was 55,342. This increased to 91,319 till March 10, 2020, according to the data shared by the Ministry of Finance MoS in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
• The amount sanctioned for these accounts stood at Rs 20,466.94 crore since the beginning of the scheme.

Key features of the Stand Up India scheme:

• The Stand Up India scheme aims at providing people belonging to the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe or women of the country a loan between Rs.10 lakhs to Rs.1 crore, based on their requirement.
• Under the scheme, 1.25 lakh bank branches would each be expected to lend money every year to at least one Dalit or tribal entrepreneur and one woman entrepreneur in their service area. 
• The scheme is part of an initiative by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to promote entrepreneurial projects.
• An amount ranging from Rs 10 lakhs to Rs.1 crore to be provided as a loan, inclusive of working capital for setting up a new enterprise.
• The scheme states that each bank branch needs to facilitate two entrepreneurial projects on an average. One for SC/ST and one for a woman entrepreneur.
• A RuPay debit card would be provided for the withdrawal of credit.
• Credit history of the borrower would be maintained by the bank so that the money is not used for any personal use.
• Refinance window through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with an initial amount of Rs.10,000 crore.
• Under this scheme, through NCGTC, creation of a corpus of Rs.5000 crore for credit guarantee.
• Supporting the borrowers by providing comprehensive support for pre-loan training like facilitating the loan, factoring, marketing, etc.
• A web portal has been created to assist people for online registration and support services.
• The main purpose of this scheme is to benefit the institutional credit structure by reaching out to the minority sections of the population by initiating bank loans in the non-farm sector.
• The Stand Up India scheme will be led by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) along with the involvement of the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI). Along with DICCI, there will also be involvement of other sector-specific institutions.
• The designation of Stand Up Connect Centres (SUCC) will be provided to SIDBI and National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) 
• An initial amount of Rs.10,000 crore will be allotted to the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to provide financial aid.
• There will be a pre-loan and an operational phase for this scheme and the system and Officials tend to help people throughout these phases.
• To help the credit system reach out to the entrepreneurs, the margin money for the composite loan will be up to 25 per cent.
• The people who apply for this scheme will be familiarised with the online platforms and other resources of e-marketing, web-entrepreneurship, factoring services and registration.

Eligibility Criteria

• There are certain eligibility criteria that need to be fulfilled by the people applying for the loan:
• The individual must be 18 years or above
• The company must be a private limited/LLP or a partnership firm.
• The turnover of the firm must not be more than 25 crores
• The entrepreneur should either be a woman for a person belonging to scheduled caste or scheduled tribe category.
• The loan will only be provided to fund Greenfield projects i.e., the project must be a very first one being undertaken under the manufacturing or service sector.
• The applicant must not a bank or any other Organisation’s defaulter.
• The company should be dealing with any commercial or innovative consumer goods. An approval of DIPP is also required for the same.

PRELIMS QUESTION:

Q. Consider the following statements regarding Stand Up India scheme:

1. It aims at providing people belonging to the scheduled caste or scheduled tribe or women of the country a loan between Rs.10 lakhs to Rs.1 crore, based on their requirement.

2.The loan will only be provided to fund Greenfield projects.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a)1 only

b)2 only

c)Both 1 and 2

d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to Prelims question