Rural development ministry, SBI sign pact to facilitate loans for SHGs

The Rural Development Ministry and State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate enterprise financing for rural self-help groups (SHG), an official statement said.

The MoU was signed by Charanjit Singh, Additional Secretary Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission, and Shantanu Pendsey, Chief General Manager of SBI, corporate branch in Mumbai.

SBI introduced a specialised financial product Svyam Siddha, exclusively tailored for SHG women entrepreneurs seeking loans up to Rs 5 lakh. This initiative is designed to alleviate the challenges associated with extensive documentation requirements for bank loan applications and reduce the turnaround time (TAT).

It does away with the requirement of burdensome documents like quotations and detailed project reports (DPRs), allowing an easy application process where a simple loan application with KYC details can be submitted at local SBI bank branches. DAY-NRLM will facilitate the loan application process and oversee loan repayment through its dedicated field cadre.

A training toolkit package was also launched at the event to promote access to formal finance by SHG women entrepreneurs.

Developed in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) under the World Bank-funded National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP), this toolkit aims to enhance the capacities of State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs) to facilitate increased access to formal finance by SHG members for their economic enterprises.