OVER ONE LAKH SC BENEFICIARIES ADVANCED MICRO-CREDIT BY NSFDC

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More than one lakh beneficiaries belonging to Scheduled Caste Communities have been advanced micro credit for income generating activities by the National Scheduled Caste Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC). About half of them are women. The Micro-Financing Scheme was started by NSFDC in 2000-2001. It has disbursed Rs. 76.99 crore during the last three and half years. The Corporation has advanced micro-credit to beneficiaries through State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) who in turn utilize the services of NGOs and Self Help Groups for reaching the beneficiaries. Micro credit has been given for a wide range of employment generating small ventures like vegetable vending, cloth selling, utensils selling, spices grinding, horse, bullock and camel carts, goat rearing, sewing machines, petty shops, plumbing work, painting, tyre puncture repairing, cycle shops etc.

In the beginning micro credit was given at an interest rate of 4% to SCAs and NGOs and 12% for Self Help Groups. But the interest rate was subsequently reduced to 2% for SCAs and 5% for beneficiaries from January, 2002. The interest rate was further cut by one percent across the board from January this year. The cumulative rate of recovery has been an impressive 92.4%.

Micro Financing has been acknowledged across the world as an extremely useful and effective instrument in removing poverty. It has been utilized in various parts of the world for the last two decades with the purpose of promoting small enterprises, entrepreneurial capabilities and for poverty alleviation. It helps to bridge the gap that conventional commercial banks and financial institutions are unable to do.