New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday released Rs 1,625 crore for women entrepreneurs. He also declared that the loan limit for self-help groups (SHGs) has been raised from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.
Participating in the ‘Atmanirbhar Nari Shakti se Samvad’ programme through video conferencing, he spoke to members of women SHGs associated with Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM), which aims to mobilise rural poor households into SHGs in a phased manner and provide them long-term support to improve their incomes and quality of life.
“To increase the scope of entrepreneurship among women, a big financial help has been released for more participation in the resolve of self-reliant India. Be it food processing enterprises, women farmer producers association, or other self-help groups, more than ₹1,600 crore has been sent to lakhs of such groups of women,” the Prime Minister said.
He also released Rs 25 crore as seed money for 7,500 SHG members under the PMFME (PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises) scheme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Rs 4.13 crore as a fund to 75 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) being promoted under the mission.
“The way our sisters served the country through SHGs in Corona is unprecedented. Be it by making masks and sanitisers, delivering food to the needy, awareness work, the contribution of Sakhi groups has been incomparable in every way,” he said. India has at least 420 million Jan Dhan bank accounts, of which 55% are in the name of women, he added.
