Consider one-time settlement of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh loans: Panel

NEW DELHI, Mar 17:
A Parliamentary panel has favoured a one-time settlement of eligible cases of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) loanees who wish to close their accounts to decrease pending bad loans with the organisation.
The Parliamentary Standing Commitee on Human Resource Development, which went into the functioning of RMK, which extends micro-finance to the poorest and asset-less women for their socio-economic empowerment, in its report noted the existence of a large number of bad loans pending under the RMK and urged the Ministry to undertake a study of the reasons for the failure of business ventures and whether the women beneficiaries could be helped to revive their business with financial and management support.
Touted as banking at the doorstep of women beneficiaries, RMK not only provides loans to women but also arranges for capacity building training in collaboration with intermediary micro-financing organisations (IMOs) in their location itself with interest charged varying from six to 10 per cent. The panel wanted loan disbursal at the lowest possible interest rates and more even loan distribution. The committee headed by Dr Satyanarayan Jatiya in its report tabled in the Rajya Sabha last month, wanted the ministry to ensure that strategies were formulated to extend loans to the under represented states so that the state-wise distribution becomes more balanced. States such as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had a large number of beneficiaries while Assam, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttarakhand were found to be lagging in this regard. On the slow pace of disbursement of just Rs 701.50 lakh out of the Rs 3,000 lakh allocated till January 18, 2019, it said “this necessitates serious introspection about spending of allocated funds as per the stiplulated action plan for RMK” and favoured a more pro-active approach to ensure that the funds were well utilised for the benefit of poor women beneficiaries.
It emphasised that processing of loan applications should be quick and hassle-free so that beneficiaries get loans to start their business venture at the earliest. Further, the loans should be given at the lowest interest rate possible so that the women could become a role model for other women in their vicinity. The ministry, the report suggested, should popularise the scheme in rural and remote areas of the country so that women living in such areas could avail loans for their socio-economic empowerment and periodically arrange ‘loan melas’ in the different states to raise awareness for needy women to come forward to avail loan facilities available with RMK. It also wanted a revamp of the organisation and exploration of the possibility of setting up registered offices to better monitor the disbursement of loans and selection of beneficiaries. The panel suggested an impact study/assessment of the scheme, which was set up in 1993, be conducted on its success in meeting the desired goals particularly vis-a-vis similar schemes being implemented by public sector banks and other non banking financial institutions. (PTI)

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