The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 20th July has extended the stand-up India scheme up to the year 2025.
The objective of the Stand Up India Scheme is to facilitate loans from Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) of value between Rs. 10 lakh and Rs.1 Crore to at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and one woman borrower per bank branch for setting up a greenfield enterprise in manufacturing, services or trading sector.
The margin money requirement for loans under the Scheme has been reduced from ‘upto 25%’ to `upto 15%’ and activities allied to agriculture have been included in the Scheme.
The Government has taken various steps towards effective implementation of the Scheme, these, inter alia, include provision for submission for online applications by potential borrowers through www. standupmitra.in portal, hand-holding support, intensive publicity campaign, simplified loan application form, Credit Guarantee Scheme, convergence with State and Central government Schemes wherever feasible, reduction in margin money and inclusion of activities allied to agriculture etc.
