Hyderabad: Acknowledging their high rate of recovery, the Telangana government on Thursday announced interest-free loans worth Rs 3,000 crore for the women self-help groups in its annual budget.
“The Government has decided to extend a huge amount of Rs 3,000 crore as interest-free loans to women SHGs in 2021-22,” finance minister Harish Rao announced as a part of his budget speech.
As many as 4,29,262 women self-help groups, with 46,65,443 women members, are present in the state, said Harish Rao, adding that these groups are promoting great awareness about thrift among women. “These SHGs are forging ahead with the help and cooperation of the State government,” he added.
“In 2020-21 an amount of Rs.9,803 crore was made available by banks to the members of the Women Self Help Groups in the form of interest-free loans. The recovery rate of these loans is 97.25 percent,” Rao said here in Assembly.
In the 2.3 lakh crore budget presented by the finance minister, major allocations have been made towards roads, transport, power, irrigation and other infrastructure development projects.
The finance minister also made a major allocation of Rs 25,000 crore to agricultural and allied sectors. This allocation included financial provisions for Rytu Bandhu, several loan waivers, animal husbandry, mechanization of agriculture and other irrigation facilities.