Govt working on creating Women SHG Bank: Giriraj Singh

Speaking as Chief Guest at the SARAS AAJEEVIKA MELA-2023 in Noida, UP, the first one in the new year, Giriraj Singh said that there are over 9 crore Women SHG members that is 9 crore households and if each of Didi will save ₹100 per month, the bank will succeed with staggering amount with even higher deposits by most of the Didis (Women SHG Members).

Also Read: Target of 10 crore SHG members to be achieved by 2024: Giriraj Singh

Giriraj Singh said, time has come to give a full play to “Vocal for Local” Mantra of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and appealed to all present in the Mela and to all citizens of the country to buy products from women artisans and enjoy the delicious, ethnic cuisines in food stalls of SHG members.

More than 350 Women SHG Members have put up 180 Stalls from 27 States. Moreover, there are 23 shops by SHG members in the India Food Court with the participation of over 100 sakhis.

Also Read: Budget 2023: ‘Rural income growth, women empowerment should be priority’

The minister said, the target of PM Modi to have 10 crore SHG members by 2024 will be achieved as the Ministry is working on a pro-active mode to enroll new women Sakhis (members).

Giriraj Singh said, in May, 2014 when Modi took charge, there were 2.35 Crore SHG members, but with a focused approach to empower rural poor women in the last 9 years, the number of SHG members has swelled to more than 9 Crore and will touch 10 crore members by 2024.

He informed that the cumulative loan to SHGs was about ₹80.000 crore before 2014 and now the bank linkage has crossed over 6.25 lakh crore in the last 9 years, with an NPA of just 2.08%. He said, efforts are on bring the NPA to less than one percent.

The minister said, each women beneficiary must save at least one lakh rupees per annum through sale of local products, which is the vision of PM Narendra Modi.

He also expressed confidence that within few years he will be able to achieve the target of 10 lakh Lakhpati Didis and added that the day is not far away when some of the lakhpati Didis will become Crorepati Didis.

Referring to Atmanirbhar pitch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Singh said, today the best products of SHGs are also being exported to different countries and there is a need for more and more awareness campaign both locally and globally about their niche products through e-commerce platforms and other avenues.

The Rural Development Minister informed that NRLM has been undertaking several efforts in supporting businesses run by rural SHG women that are engaged in producing food products, handicrafts and hand-loom etc.

As part of the efforts to connect producers to markets, NRLM and SRLMs have taken steps to promote curated products from SHGs and SHG member entrepreneurs through multiple channels such as Saras Gallery, State specific retail outlets, e-Commerce platforms like GeM, Flipkart, Amazon.

Giriraj Singh said, two days ago, MoRD signed an MoU with Meesho, an e-commerce platform from Bengaluru to expand the marketing options of Women SHGs