Women entrepreneurs continue to be the major beneficiaries of the government’s micro credit scheme Mudra. According to the latest official data, 63.6 per cent of the total Mudra beneficiaries in the financial year 2023-24 were women entrepreneurs.
As per the data shared by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Monday, out of 6.67 crore loan accounts or beneficiary count in FY24, 4.24 crore were women borrowers while in terms of the loan amount, Rs 2.22 lakh crore Mudra loans were disbursed to women entrepreneurs out of the total Rs 5.32 lakh crore loan disbursed in the last financial year.
Total borrowers included entrepreneurs in general as well as SC, ST and OBC categories, in addition to women borrowers.
The share of women borrowers in FY24, however, dropped from 71 per cent in FY23 with 4.42 crore women entrepreneurs raising Rs 2.15 lakh crore out of the total 6.23 crore entrepreneurs raising Rs 4.50 lakh crore.
The growth was flat from 71.4 per cent share of women borrowers in FY22 with 3.84 crore loan accounts by women entrepreneurs involving Rs 1.64 lakh crore out of the total 5.37 crore loan accounts involving Rs 3.31 lakh crore.
In the current financial year, as of November 1, the share of women borrowers stood at 61.3 per cent. 1.51 crore women entrepreneurs have raised Rs 87,718 crore Mudra loan out of the total 2.46 crore borrowers raising Rs 2.32 lakh crore.
In October this year, the Finance Ministry had notified the increase in the Mudra loan limit to Rs 20 lakh from the previous Rs 10 lakh, following the announcement made in the Budget this year on doubling the loan limit by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The government added a new category, Tarun Plus, for loans above Rs 10 lakh and up to Rs 20 lakh for entrepreneurs who have repaid their loans under the Tarun category.
The scheme offers credit under three categories: ‘Shishu’ for loans up to Rs 50,000, ‘Kishore’ for loans up to Rs 5 lakh, and ‘Tarun’ for credit up to Rs 10 lakh.
Interest on Mudra loans by PSBs and private banks ranges from 9.15 per cent-12.80 per cent and 6.96 per cent-28 per cent, respectively based on the cost of funds, risk profile of the borrower, tenure of loans, etc.
In terms of asset quality, the non-performing assets (NPAs) in the Mudra loan category for public sector banks had dropped to 3.4 per cent in FY24 from 4.77 per cent in FY21, 4.89 per cent in FY20, and 3.76 per cent in FY19, Sitharaman had informed Parliament in August this year.