Golden Age For SHGs In Tamil Nadu, 10.44 Thousand Crore Loan Disbursed In Just 6 Months

As per data, in the last 6 months, approximately 10.44 thousand crores were given as financial assistance to people via self-help groups. After coming to power, DMK government and especially Udhayanidhi Stalin has been giving more importance to women self-help groups. Udhayanidhi Stalin has participated in many events relating to women self-help groups such as training for auto driving, providing loan assistance through banks to start own businesses etc.

During the DMK government 24.712 crores have been given as loans to women self-help groups. Additionally the government has set the target of giving 30,000 crore as loan in the financial year 2023-2024. On an average, 5.70 lakh has been given as loan to the head of a particular self-help group. Accordingly, 10.44 thousand crore loan assistance has been provided in the last 6 months alone, out of which the approval of 19,560 crore is still pending.

One of the government authorities said, "Tamil Nadu is a pioneer state in India which started self-help groups for the first time. In 1989, during the reign of former CM Karunanidhi, self-help groups were started by women engaged in agriculture-related activities in Dharmapuri district through the Women Development Program with International Agricultural Development Fund. After the introduction in Dharmapuri district, self-help groups were created in Salem, Ramanathapuram, Viluppuram, Madurai etc."

Another official said, "Self-help groups are categorised into two, rural and urban self-help groups directly benefited by the government and other private self-help groups started by NGOs. In rural areas alone, there are 3 crore self-help groups and 1.30 crore groups are there in urban areas, totalling 4.30 crore groups in Tamil Nadu. Apart from this, private self-help groups are also there."

About the loan assistance given to the self-help groups, the officer said, "The government has allocated 30,000 crore to the self-help groups as loan assistance. When a group gets a loan and pays interest more than 7%, the extra amount paid by the group is returned to the group itself. After the repayment of principal amount, the actual interest is also calculated and returned to the group."

According to official data regarding loan assistance, 3849 self-help groups are there in Chennai alone between April and September month. 21,361.42 lakh rupees have been distributed so far to the government based self-help groups. Total private NGO based self-help groups in Chennai are 7306 and so far 34403.71 lakh rupees has been distributed to them as loan assistance.

In the last 6 months, Chennai city has disbursed loans intensively to self-help groups. Compared to Chennai, Tenkasi has disbursed only 27%, Ariyalur 28%, Perambalur 30%, Tirupathur 30% and Madurai 30%. Serious efforts are taken by the government to speed up the process of loan disbursal.

Tamil Nadu government is providing financial assistance to the self-help groups in collaboration with the banks. The scheme is designed in such a way to provide and increase loan amounts in subsequent phases, starting from 1 to 1.5 lakh in first installment, 3 to 5 lakh in second installment etc.

The advantage of receiving loans via self-help groups is the low interest rate. As per the RBI guidelines, self-help groups can provide only 6 to 8 times the savings in the bank as their first installment. This rule is accommodated by the banks at the time of loan disbursal to self-help groups.

Srinivasan, Director of Chennai District Women Program said, "99.6 crore has been given to 2761 self-help groups in 2021-22, 252 crore has been given to 5670 groups in 2022-23. A target of providing loans to 10,000 self-help groups has been set by the government in the financial year 2023-2024."

During his tenure as the Minister of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Stalin established 1.75 lakh new women self-help groups. After becoming CM, he renovated and inaugurated Poomalai shopping complex across Tamil Nadu at a cost of 5.16 crore.

Also, the DMK government announced the implementation of Micro Small Enterprise Funding scheme under 'Vazhndhu Kaattuvom' (Let's show how to live) project at the cost of 50 crores. As per the scheme, CM Stalin granted a loan amount of Rs.5.60 lakh rupees each to women belonging to 10 self-help groups last July.

DMK reign: Golden age for Self-Help Groups in Tamil Nadu.