Hyderabad: The state government has decided to provide Rs 6,584 crore interest-free loans to self-help groups in the current financial year.
Rural development minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao, speaking at a meeting of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), said Telangana state was one of the forerunners of the SHG movement. It had 4.12 lakh SHGs and the state was making rapid strides in the SHG movement.
“The SHG movement in the state is not merely confined to savings and internal lending. The SHGs are fast emerging as instruments of socio-economic change in rural areas,” the minister said.
Stressing the role of bankers in lending loans to the SHGs, the minister asked the bank managers to complete their targets and provide loans to self help groups as per the unit value.
Ms Pausumi Basu, chief executive officer of SERP, said the SHG-Bank Linkage Programme (SHG-BLP) had become the mainstay of the SHGs which cover nearly 42 lakh households and work towards social, economic and financial empowerment of the rural poor, especially the women.
She said SERP had initiated micro-credit planning for each member of the SHG known as household livelihood plans (HLP) and micro credit plans (MCP). The process of preparation of HLP/MCP, asset verification and performance review has been digitised, Ms Basu said.
