CM Naveen Announces Rs 5 Lakh Interest-Free Loan To Women SHGs

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to further empower women of the state, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday announced to provide of interest-free loans for women self-help groups (SHGs) up to Rs 5 lakh from the existing Rs 3 lakh.

It will be implemented retrospectively from April 2022.

The Chief Minister said the state government has taken steps to provide Rs 50,000 crore loan to the women SHGs in next five years.

Describing this as a revolutionary step, the Chief Minister said that through this the Mission Shakti women members can establish themselves as SME or Small and Medium Enterprises from SHG and can take bigger loans to start big business.

“According to our promise, the State government has provided Rs 4000 crore business to Mission Shakti Maa in the last 3 years,” the Chief Minister said. “In addition, over 17 thousand crore rupees have been provided to Mission Shakti SHGs in the last 5 years.”

The state has six lakh SHG groups having over 70 lakh women.