No beneficiary in Raj of loan scheme for women

Jaipur: There has been no beneficiary in Rajasthan under the New Swarnima Loan Scheme of the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) in the last two years (2021-22 and 2022-23), a Lok Sabha reply has revealed.It also stated 553 beneficiaries of the state got benefits of the scheme in 2020-21. Minister of state for social justice and empowerment Pratima Bhoumik informed this while replying to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha on December 19. According to the reply, as many as 6,193 beneficiaries got benefits of the scheme in the whole country in 2020-21, 7,764 beneficiaries were benefitted in 2021-22, and 5,573 beneficiaries in 2022-23.The target group of the New Swarnima Loan Scheme of the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) is women belonging to backward classes having annual family income less than Rs 3 lakh. The beneficiary women are not required to invest any amount of her own on projects up to cost of Rs 2,00,000.The rate of interest on the amount of loan is less compared to the general loan scheme of the corporation. “The women belonging to backward classes as notified by the central/state governments from time to time shall be eligible for loan under this scheme. The objective of the scheme is to inculcate the spirit of self-dependence among women of backward classes under term loan,” the reply stated.“The maximum loan amount is Rs 2 lakh. Loan is to be repaid in quarterly instalments with maximum 8 years (including the moratorium period of six months on the recovery of the principal,” it further stated.