Hyderabad: Despite challenges posed by the pandemic, State government has set a target of providing bank linkage of Rs 12,070 crore to over 3.80 lakh self-help groups (SHGs) during the current financial year.
Till last month, Rs 168.81 crore bank linkage had been extended to 4,833 SHGs. Efforts are on to complete the bank linkage to other groups at the earliest.
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The target of Rs 12,070 crore bank linkage is set against the Rs 10,448 crore bank linkage extended to over 2.71 lakh SHGs during last financial year, said Panchayat Raj Minister E Dayakar Rao here on Sunday.
Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) as a means to encourage SHGs launched the bank linkage to enable poor households access adequate formal credit at their doorsteps through the SHGs.
After Telangana formation, bank linkage to SHGs has increased drastically through SERP. Accordingly, since 2014-15, the State government has extended a cumulative bank linkage of Rs 44,270 crore during the seven financial years, the Minister said.
The credit worthiness of these groups, which are otherwise unbanked, having no collaterals, has been built on their group discipline, repayment culture and accumulated corpus funds. This resulted in SHGs’ bank linkage programme, under which they are provided with credit by service area banks as per Micro Credit Plans of SHGs.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao is introducing different schemes to promote women empowerment. Under this initiative, more loans were being extended to SHGs and this support will be increased manifold in the coming days, said the Minister.
The key aspect of enrolling women into SHGs was to aid in financial discipline among their families and help in financial savings. At the same time, measures were being taken to create awareness among women over different problems in the society, he informed.
The SHG women were coming up with attractive handicrafts, handlooms and other products. These products were being sold at DWCRA Bazars. In addition to this, women from the State were participating in different national and international expos and exhibiting the products manufactured by SHGs, he added.
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