New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted on Tuesday that the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY), launched 10 years ago on April 8, has turned out to be a massive success in empowering the poor at the grassroots with over 52 crore loans given worth Rs 33 lakh crore.
The Prime Minister explained that the MUDRA scheme was born as the result of his travels across the country as a “karyakarta” when he observed that there was a dire need for “funding the unfunded” at the grassroots to lift the masses out of poverty.
He highlighted that the scheme democratised the financial system and the success of the scheme is also reflected in the fact that a mere 3.5 per cent of loans under the scheme were NPAs. In a post on X, the Prime Minister said, “Sharing my interview with Economic Times, where I elaborate on the life-changing ability of Mudra Yojana and why it remains an important scheme in our quest for dignity and empowerment. #10YearsOfMUDRA.” The Prime Minister said that the MUDRA (Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency) scheme needs to be seen in a particular context and not as a standalone scheme.
“Even before I held any government position, I had travelled extensively across the country for many decades as a karyakarta. There was a common theme that I saw everywhere. A vast majority of our population, such as the poor, farmers, women and marginalised sections, had aspirations for growth, a strong spirit of enterprise, energy and resilience qualities, needed to be a successful entrepreneur, he observed.
“But these were the very sections that had been completely excluded from the formal banking and financial system. Tell me, if you do not have a bank account, will you ever visit a bank? When people did not even have access to basic banking, funding for entrepreneurship looked like a distant dream. So, when the people voted for us in 2014, we decided to make the whole financial architecture people-centric and inclusive, so that we could give wings to their aspirations,” PM Modi said. (IANS)
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