Banks in Haryana, Punjab yet to stand up for SC, ST, women

CHANDIGARH: ‘Stand-up India’, the flagship scheme of the BJP-led NDA government to encourage entrepreneurship among the SC/ST and women has failed to pick up in Haryana and Punjab with less than 3% achievement in the BJP-ruled state and about 8% in Congress-ruled Punjab in the current financial year.

Minimum Rs10 lakh loan amount appears roadblock

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 15

‘Stand-up India’, the flagship scheme of the BJP-led NDA government to encourage entrepreneurship among the SC/ST and women has failed to pick up in Haryana and Punjab with less than 3% achievement in the BJP-ruled state and about 8% in Congress-ruled Punjab in the current financial year.

In April-September 2018, banks in Haryana could offer loans to only 274 people under the scheme against a target of 9,536 for the whole fiscal year. The neighbouring Punjab, however, performed better compared to Haryana with 995 cases of disbursal in the first half of the financial year against a target of 12,702.

Banking sector experts say the progress has been very slow and it is unlikely that the two states could improve their performance in the remaining six months. The government had launched the scheme on April 5, 2016 to facilitate bank loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore to at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch for setting up greenfield enterprises in the manufacturing, services or the trading sector.

In Punjab, the total number of bank branches was 6,351 as on September 30, 2018. So far, only 570 branches have participated under the scheme. According to state level bankers committee (SLBC) data, against the targeted 12,702 cases, banks in the state have disbursed Rs 193.40 crore to 995 beneficiaries in April-September 30, 2018 period even as the state has very high percentage of SC population. The top performing banks in implementing the scheme in the state are Punjab & Sind Bank, Canara Bank and Vijaya Bank, the report said.

Similarly in Haryana, out of 4,768 branches of scheduled commercial banks, only 178 branches have participated in the scheme. As far as disbursement is concerned, an amount of Rs 46.45 crore has been disbursed to 274 beneficiaries in the state. The top performing banks in implementing the scheme are Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and HDFC Bank.

Owing to low performance of banks in Haryana, Punjab National Bank Executive Director LV Prabhakar suggested to the bankers to popularise the scheme by lending to the SC, ST and women beneficiaries.

Some bankers say the scheme itself is flawed as it offers a minimum Rs 10 lakh loan, which is often beyond the requirements of the prospective borrowers. “In rural areas, people plan small projects. They, therefore, prefer loan under another scheme (MUDRA) that offers loan below Rs 10 lakh,” a banker said requesting anonymity.

Stand-up India

Progress in Haryana and Punjab (April-September 2018-19)

State

No of bank branches

Target (2 cases/branch)

Achieved

(%) Achievement

Haryana

4,768

9,536

274

2.87