Tamil Nadu has lagged behind targets set under the Stand-up India (SUI) scheme, which is aimed at facilitating bank loans between ₹10 lakh to ₹100 lakh to at least one member of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community and one woman per bank branch of all scheduled commercial banks for setting up a greenfield enterprise. Banks in the State have been told to increase disbursements under the scheme. A progress report said the target set by the Centre has not been met.

According to the progress report, for financial year 2018-19, banks in Tamil Nadu sanctioned 797 loans and disbursed ₹157.51 crore under the scheme. During 2017-18, 682 loans were sanctioned and ₹133.93 crore was disbursed. “The performance needs improvement. The achievement level is far below the target set by the Government of India,” the State Level Bankers Committee told the banks. Member banks have been requested to actively involve themselves in the implementation of the scheme. Banks were also requested to issue instructions to their branches to log onto the SUI portal regularly and process the applications on a priority basis, it added. Chennai-based IOB sanctioned 290 applications and disbursed ₹55.30 crore and Indian Bank sanctioned 73 and disbursed ₹12.38 crore between April 1, 2018 and March 31, 2019.

Central Bank of India sanctioned 98 applications and disbursed ₹16.45 crore.