Parliament Question: Loans to Self-Help Groups

O.I.H.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4355 ANSWERED ON 19/08/2025 LOANS TO SELF-HELP GROUPS

4355. Shri Chandra Prakash Joshi:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a) the details of loans disbursed by banks to Self-Help Groups and the outstanding loans till date;

(b) the steps taken by the Government so far to facilitate access to credit for rural poor along with the instructions issued to banks for providing loans under this scheme; and

(c) the percentage of Non-Performing Asset (NPA) on bank loans given to Self-Help Groups? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. CHANDRA SEKHAR PEMMASANI)

(a): The cumulative loans disbursed by Banks to women Self Help Groups since inception of the DeendayalAntyodayaYojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) is Rs. 11,10,945.88crores and outstanding amount is Rs. 3,00,342.21 crores.

(b): Following steps have been taken by the Government to facilitate

access to credit for the rural poor: i) The Mission has been engaged with financial regulators and commercial banks, at strategic as well as operational level through conduct of several workshops, consultative forums and capacity building programs. These include: -

1. Every year, on the request of the Ministry, a Master

circular on Women Self Help Groups is issued by Reserve Bank of India for Public Sector Banks/Private Banks and Small Financing Banks. Similar circular is issued by NABARD for Regional Rural Banks and Co-operative banks.

2. Central Level Coordination Committee meeting under the chairmanship of Secretary Rural Development is held every year in which Managing Directors/ Executive Directors, Chief General Page 1 of 3Managers/General Managers of the Banks, Chairman & Managing Director NABARD, Chief General Manager RBI, Director, Department of Financial Inclusion, Ministry of Finance, representatives from World Bank, other Government Departments and State Mission Director/Chief Executive Officers of State Rural Livelihoods Missions participate.

3. Consultation meeting on SHG Bank Linkage is held with General Managers of Public Sector Banks/Private Banks, Chairpersons of Regional Rural Banks, Co-operative Banks, and State Rural Livelihoods Missions from time to time.

4. Prior to the finalization of targets, credit target planning is undertaken, and the Division convenes a meeting with the major banks at the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) Headquarters, Mumbai. The targets are then fixed based on the potential of banks, the trend of credit growth, and their outreach.

5. Based on the target, states prepared district, block, and branch wise targets, which are placed before the State Level Bankers Committee (sub-committee) for approval.

6. Dedicated staff have been placed at district level, besides positioning bank Sakhi at branch level. The Bank Sakhi and the Mission staff have been preparing the list of eligible SHGs for linkage and facilitating submission of loan applications including review/enhancements and following up pending loan application by uploading them on the portal monthly. In addition, Community Based Recovery Mechanism (CBRM) has been instituted to ensure regular repayment of loans.

7. To monitor the progress of SHG Bank Linkage and keep a track of repayment of bank loan by SHGs, a dedicated portal "NRLM SHG-Bank Linkage Portal"(banklinkage.lokos.in) has been developed. The portal sources all its data directly from Core Banking solution (CBS) of banks. All Public Sector, Private Sector, Regional Rural Banks, Small Finance Banks, and cooperative Banks including District Central Cooperative Banks lending SHGs are sharing data with the portal on monthly basis.

Various performance and management reports are placed on the portal to aid SRLMs and Banks regularly monitor the progress on ground.

8. Training/orientation to Bankers is provided for their capacity building and implementation of the Scheme.

Page 2 of 3ii) Following instructions have been issued to the banks for providing

loans under this scheme:- Reserve Bank of India and NABARD issues master circular containing detailed instructions for financing to women SHGs under DAY-NRLM and copy of master circular issued by RBI is

available in the link:

https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/BS_ViewMasCirculardetails.aspx?id= 12806

and circular issued by NABARD is available in the link:

https://www.nabard.org/CircularPage.aspx?cid=504&id=17459.

(c): Non-Performing Assets (NPA) on the loans given by Banks to women Self Help Groups is 1.76%. ***** Page 3 of 3