Nellore: State government has introduced a new scheme to offer personal loans without security for the benefit of deprived sections in the society.
The scheme will cover 6.23 lakh SC, ST, BC and minorities apart from vulnerable sections in the society in the state.
The state government has earmarked Rs 1,700 crore towards subsidy (60 per cent) for the scheme and Nellore district share will be Rs 60.78 crore in the subsidy for 12,656 beneficiaries.
SC STs in the age group of 21 to 45 years, BCs and minorities in the age group of 21 to 40 years and vulnerable sections in the age group of 21 to 40 years are eligible to apply for the scheme. In special cases, age restriction is relaxed up to 50 years in case of vulnerable.
Applications should be submitted online before January 19 for the scheme. A screening committee headed by the district collector and three persons appointed by the government will screen and select the beneficiaries.
Finance minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy has dwelt at length on the salient features of the scheme during a bankers meeting held here on Thursday.
He appealed to the bankers to lend personal loans without demanding security while pointing to subsidy being offered by the state government. The upper limit for subsidy is RS 1 lakh and there are no restrictions over the loan content, he added.
He advised the bankers not to include beneficiaries identified for various loans last year under the scheme while reacting to a proposal made by Lead bank District Manager (LDM) T. Venkateswar Rao.
He expressed displeasure over the failure of banks to open accounts for all the farmers under total financial inclusion scheme. The minister said that they could pass on Rs 400 crore sanctioned under 2008-09 national calamities fund in January this year because of delay on the part of banks to open accounts for affected farmers.
He has also requested the bankers to speed up bank account linkage for LPG connections for direct benefit scheme before February 1 since 49 per cent of the accounts are yet to be linked.
Ramanarayana Reddy said that 81 per cent of the 29 lakh population in the district already obtained Aadhar cards in Nellore district.
Expressing concern over grounding of 147 units out of 2,621 sanctioned for weavers, he advised the bankers to achieve the targets. Nellore rural legislator Anam Vivekananda Reddy, Nellore urban legislator M. Sreedharkrishna Reddy, district collector N. Srikant, joint collector B. Lakshmikantham, and Nabard AGM Vivekananda Reddy took part in the meeting apart from representatives of various banks.
