The lockdown due to the pandemic seems to have turned favourable for managers of nationalised banks that have several branches spread out in rural parts of the district to foster the culture of entrepreneurship among educated youth, and thereby reach the target for disbursal of loans under the self-employment schemes of the Central and State governments.
The bank managers have been able to prevail upon people who had to leave their jobs elsewhere and return to their native villages due to the lockdown to start their own ventures and remain where they are. “Most of the applicants in this category have chosen to switch over to self-employment readily,” G.Raveendran, General Manager, District Industries Centre, Tiruchi, said.
There are now increasing instances of applicants being sponsored by bank managers for financial assistance under Unemployed Youth Employment Guarantee Scheme and Prime Minister’s Employment Guarantee Scheme to start readymade garment shops, beauty parlour, operate auto rickshaws and other such ventures that require investment of only a few lakhs of rupees.
There is also an instance of a well-qualified applicant being sanctioned loan by SBI Branch at Kattuputhur for manufacture of bio-enzyme-enriched cattlefeed, Mr. Raveendran said.
‘On course’
“We are on course to achieving subsidy targets under UYEGP, PMEGP and NEEDS (New Entrepreneur cum Enterprise Development Scheme) notwithstanding the COVID pandemic lockdown,” he said.
Under PMEGP, the Industries Department has sanctioned loans to 46 applicants against the target of 53. A sum of ₹60 lakh has also been releases as subsidy for 28 applicants.
Under UYEGP, subsidy of ₹75 lakh has been released to nine applicants.
As for NEEDS, the target was to sanction loans to 37 applicants with subsidy component of ₹ 3.63 crore.
So far, the department has sanctioned loansto 17 applicants involving subsidy disbursal to the extent of ₹1.53 crore. “There are 25 applications pending with the banks under this scheme. The target is easily achievable,” Mr. Raveendran said.
