Banks need to take greater role in assisting programs like SHGs: Arun Jaitley
1 min read 11 Jul 2017, 03:55 PM ISTFinance minister Arun Jaitley urges financial institutions, including Nabard, and banks to focus on funding the unorganized sector so that employment in the sector goes up
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Mumbai: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said banks need to play a greater role in assisting programs like self- help group (SHGs) which boost employment in the unorganized sector.
According to Jaitley, the number of people who find work on their own in the country is huge compared to the formal sector. Linkage through National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) will expand more going forward.
The SHG-Bank linkage programme which started in 1992 has grown immensely. At the end of March 2017, the total loan outstanding stood at Rs.61581.30 crore.
Anjuly Chib Duggal, financial services secretary said that the centre is trying to increase the reach of SHG member along with the start up India scheme in order to provide handholding. Also the centre is working on linking SHG members with other social security schemes like Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana.
Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, Chairman, Nabard, said they launched digital initiatives in 2015 where the bank linkage has gone up by 100%. So far 25 districts have been covered under digital initiative and other 75 district will be covered by the year end.
