From MUDRA Yojana to Annapurna Scheme: Six Business Loan Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs
Being an entrepreneur is exhilarating and truly empowering. It gives you the freedom to bring your ideas to life while chasing profits. Also, the idea of being your own boss is highly appealing. Over the years, there has also been a growth in the number of women choosing to start a business. However, the number is not as high as compared to the number of men in the entrepreneurial sector. Recent data suggest that while the country has 50 million male entrepreneurs, the number of female entrepreneurs is only around 8 million.
The government has recognised this disparity in the number of female and male entrepreneurs and understands the need for sustainable growth of female entrepreneurs to further boost the economy. As a way to encourage women entrepreneurship, the central and state governments, along with various banks across the country, have partnered to offer lucrative funding schemes to entrepreneurs. These schemes aim to boost sustainable businesses, especially among women. Here are a few schemes that you can look into:
MUDRA Yojana Scheme
The MUDRA Yojana is specially designed for small businesses. Women who wish to start a small business can apply for this scheme. It allows women to get a MUDRA loan between ₹50,000 and ₹50 lakh. Women do not have to present collateral when seeking this type of loan unless the amount they apply for is more than ₹10 lakh.
TREAD scheme
The Trade-Related Entrepreneurship Assistance and Development (TREAD) scheme is curated for women who face difficulties in accessing bank credit. The scheme provides money for business projects, training, and counselling. The scheme also helps women get a government grant to fund up to 30% of the project cost. These grants are given after the project cost is appraised by lending organizations. The remaining 70% is financed by these organizations through loans.
Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme
The Mahila Udyam Nidhi Scheme offers women a financial boost of up to ₹10 lakh so that they can set up new business ventures. Moreover, for women who already have a business or project, the scheme helps them with the upgrade and modernisation of the same. These loans have a moratorium period of 5 years, after which, the beneficiary has 10 years to repay the loan.
Annapurna Scheme
The Annapurna scheme is designed specifically for female-led businesses that work within the food or catering sector. With this scheme, women entrepreneurs can take a loan of up to ₹50,000. These loans can be used to pay for materials like kitchen essentials, gas connections, water filters, etc. The loan can be repaid within 3 years from the date of sanction. The only condition is that this loan requires a guarantor.
Bhartiya Mahila Business Bank (BMB) Loan
One of the most ranged schemes, the Bhartiya Mahila Business Bank Loan scheme is classified into four categories — BMB Shringaar, BMB Annapurna Loan, BMB SME Easy,
and BMB Parvarish. These components allow loans for beauty salons and spas, food catering, SMEs, and daycare centres, respectively. The scheme is associated with the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises. The loan can range up to ₹20 crore (with collateral) for women entrepreneurs. For loans under ₹1 crore, there is no requirement for collateral.
Dena Shakti Scheme
The Dena Shakti Scheme offers loans to women entrepreneurs with a limit of up to ₹20 lakh. These loans are given to women running businesses in the fields of agriculture, manufacturing, retail, etc. As per the terms of the scheme, loans up to ₹50,000 are given as micro-credit. The rate of interest levied on these loans is decided by guidelines sent by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Dena Bank.
The loan schemes offered for women entrepreneurs are numerous and there is no better time to take off your dreams than now. Visit Finserv MARKETS today to know about eligibility for MUDRA loan.