Government to encourage and facilitate role of women in India’s growth story

Women Self Help Group interest subvention programme to be extended to all districts

Every verified women SHG member with a Jan Dhan Bank Account to get an overdraft of ₹ 5,000

One woman in every SHG will be eligible for a loan up to ₹ 1 lakh under the MUDRA Scheme

The Government wishes to encourage and facilitate the role of women in India’s growth story.  The Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said in Parliament today while presenting the Union Budget 2019-20 that “the role of women is a very sweet story” in India’s growth particularly in the rural economy.  The Finance Minister proposed to form a broad-based Committee with Government and private stakeholders to evaluate and suggest action for moving forward.  Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said that gender analysis of the budget aimed at examining the budgetary allocation through a gender lens has been in place for over a decade.

The Finance Minister said that India can make progress with greater women’s participation in its growth story.  The Minister quoted Swami Vivekananda’s letter to Swami Ramakrishna in which he had said that “there is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing”.

Women SHGs

Finance Minister proposed that for every verified woman Self Help Group (SHG) member, having a Jan Dhan Bank Account, an overdraft of ₹ 5,000 will be allowed. She also proposed to expand the Women SHG interest subvention programme to all districts.

One woman in every SHG will also be made eligible for a loan up to ₹ 1 lakh under the MUDRA Scheme.  The Government has supported and encouraged women entrepreneurship through various schemes such asMUDRA, Stand UP India and the Self Help Group (SHG) movement, the Finance Minister added.

Women's Self Help Group support expanded: overdraft access and widened interest subvention with enhanced MUDRA loan eligibility for members. Operational provisions expand SHG credit access by permitting an overdraft for each verified woman SHG member with a Jan Dhan account, extending the Women SHG interest subvention programme to all districts, and making one woman in every SHG eligible for a MUDRA loan; a broad-based committee of government and private stakeholders will be constituted to evaluate and recommend further actions, building on an existing gender analysis of budget allocations.