Stand Up India: Six States get 50% of loan amounts sanctioned under the scheme

Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat received the maximum loan amounts under the Centre’s ambitious Stand Up India (SUPI) scheme.

Next on the list were Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Together, the six States have received 50 per cent of the total loan amount of ₹17,937 crore sanctioned under the scheme.

Data provided by the Finance Ministry to the Lok Sabha on Monday showed that borrowers from Uttar Pradesh received loans amounting to ₹2,035 crore, followed by Tamil Nadu (₹1,646 crore) and Gujarat (₹1,616 crore).

Uttar Pradesh (10,058), Tamil Nadu (7,150) and Maharashtra (5,796) are the top three States when it comes to the number of loan accounts sanctioned under the scheme.

SUPI was launched on April 5, 2016 to facilitate bank loans of ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore to SC/ST and women borrowers to set up greenfield enterprises in the manufacturing, services and trading sectors. As on November 30, 2019, 80,002 loans had been sanctioned under SUPI since its inception, involving a total sanctioned amount of ₹17,937.63 crore.

Addressing challenges

The scheme seeks to address challenges faced by SC, ST and women entrepreneurs in setting up enterprises and obtaining loans, and offer other support to run businesses. The scheme endeavours to create an ecosystem that facilitates a supportive environment to do business.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget for 2019-20, had said: “The Stand-Up India Scheme has delivered enormous benefits. The country is witnessing the emergence of thousands of entrepreneurs from women and also from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, most of them assisted to set up their businesses and industry with capital provided under the Stand-Up India Scheme”.

The Minister had said that banks will provide financial assistance for demand-based businesses under this scheme, including funds to acquire scavenging machines and robots.