Loans of Rs 21,000 Cr Sanctioned on SIDBI’s Standup Mitra Portal

The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has said that its 'Standup Mitra' portal has recorded over 96,000 loan sanctions worth over Rs 21,000 crore as of September end.

The portal was launched in April 2016 to extend online financial assistance to the unserved and underserved segment of the society without the need of visiting any bank branch and apply for loan online under the Stand-Up India Scheme.

''The Standup Mitra Portal, which was set up by SIDBI under guidance of Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, to pioneer national mission of Stand-Up India, has successfully recorded more than 96,000 loan sanctions worth more than Rs 21,000 crore as on September 30, 2020,'' SIDBI said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Stand-Up India scheme aims at ensuring access to unserved/underserved segments of women and Scheduled Caste (SC) & Schedule Tribes (ST) pan India basis by providing them financial assistance starting from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore for setting up of Greenfield enterprises.

“One of the major functions of SIDBI has always been strengthening the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises’ (MSMEs) ecosystem through the implementation of various GOI schemes with special thrust on digitizing access. We are happy that nearly a lakh of aspirants have opted to set up their new enterprises under Stand-Up India,'' said V Satya Venkata Rao, Deputy Managing Director of SIDBI.

''In order to give further fillip to pockets/segments which are left out, we invite aspirants to look at this scheme for realizing their dreams. We are undertaking steps such as supporting Swavalamban Sankalp through Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI), which represents the mainstreaming mission of SC/ST segments. Through the portal, we also look forward to deepening the mission of equitable outreach to all segments and regions in the country looking to make Swavalamban their preferred vocation,” he added.

To give fillip to Stand-Up India Scheme, SIDBI in collaboration with DICCI has launched Nationwide Mega Campaign viz. “Swavalamban Sankalp”. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, a web-series of the programs is being scheduled pan India shortly.

“Swavalamban Sankalp is the outreach campaign for Prime Minister’s Flagship program to create 1.25 lakh SC/ST entrepreneurs through Stand-Up India scheme. It shall leverage the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’. SIDBI & DICCI shall reach out to aspirant SC/ST youth across India to handhold them in becoming entrepreneurs and shall complete the target of creating 1.25 lakh entrepreneurs in the stipulated time,'' said Milind Kamble, Chairman, DICCI.

''With a vision to strengthen the Stand-Up India ecosystem, through Swavalamban Sankalp, the synergy of DICCI and SIDBI shall extensively expand the outreach to the aspirational needs of SC/ST youth and entrepreneurs,” he added.