SHGs given Rs 6.25 lakh crore loans in past 9 years; NPA just 2.08%
Self Help Groups (SHGs) have been granted Rs 6.25 lakh crore loans by banks and financial institutions in the last nine years with NPA of just around 2.08 per cent, Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh has said.
There has been huge jump in lending to SHGs since 2014. Until 2013, the cumulative loans to SHGs stood at Rs 80,000 crore.
The Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in SHGs loan is much lower than the industry average. Singh said the efforts are being made to bring down NPA in SHG loans to less than 1 per cent.
The minister said the government has set a target to increase the number of SHG members in the country to 10 crore by 2024. “The Ministry is working on a pro-active mode to enroll new women Sakhis (members),” the minister said.
In May 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government took charge, there were 2.35 crore SHG members. With a focused approach to empower rural poor women in the last 9 years, the number of SHG members has increased to more than 9 crore and will touch 10 crore members by 2024, he said.
Giriraj Singh said each women beneficiary must save at least one lakh rupees per annum through sale of local products, which is the vision of Prime Minister. He also expressed confidence that within few years he will be able to achieve the target of 10 lakh Lakhpati Didis and added that the day is not far away when some of the lakhpati Didis will become Crorepati Didis.
Singh was addressing the media after the signing of an MoU by the Ministry with “Meesho” – an e-commerce platform owned by Bengaluru-based Fashnear Technologies Private Limited, for marketing of products made by the Self Help Groups under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission.
Referring to Atmanirbhar pitch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Singh said, today the best products of SHGs are also being exported to different countries and there is a need for more and more awareness campaign both locally and globally about their niche products through e-commerce platforms and other avenues.
Rural Development Minister informed that NRLM has been undertaking several efforts in supporting businesses run by rural SHG women that are engaged in producing food products, handicrafts and hand-loom etc. As part of the efforts to connect producers to markets, NRLM and SRLMs have taken steps to promote curated products from SHGs and SHG member entrepreneurs through multiple channels such as Saras Gallery, State specific retail outlets, e-Commerce platforms like GeM, Flipkart, Amazon.
Shailesh Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development said that SHGs have presence in 97 per cent of Blocks, while 85 per cent of them are directly connected with the network of the Ministry. He also advised the SHGs and craftsmen to understand consumer’s demand to improve the products. He said, the exploration of marketing platforms is nothing but an effort to handhold the SHG Didis to gain access to markets, both national and international.
Sanjeev Barnwal, Co-Founder and CTO from Meesho said that this partnership with Meesho will enable SHGs across the country to get dedicated handholding and cataloguing support to start their businesses and receive training on how to ship their first order, how to maintain their accounts and list products etc. including dedicated on-boarding support and creation of Meesho Selling Accounts of recommended sellers for SHG products.
He added that additionally, Meesho will be providing training on cataloguing, order management, pricing and business growth, and will provide free support to individual sellers for 100 products and to aggregators for 300 products. The platform currently offers zero commission fee on all products for Rural Livelihood Mission affiliate sellers.
