Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday launched the mega loan programme by Odisha Gramya Bank under which loans to the tune of Rs 1001 crore will be disbursed to 26,722 Women Self Help Groups (SHGs). As many as 2.68 lakh women will be benefitted by these loans.
The Chief Minister inaugurated the program by giving Rs 10 lakh loan to 5 Mission Shakti groups each, present at the event. On the occasion, the Chief Minister urged bankers to participate in the state’s Mission Shakti program, lead the women’s empowerment program and participate in the transformation of Odisha.
The Chief Minister said that Odisha is a pioneering state in empowering women. He added that a decision has been taken to provide a revolving fund of Rs 1 crore for district-level federations and Rs 50 lakh for block-level federations. Along with this, arrangements have also been made to give loans up to Rs 5 lakh to women without interest.
The CM thanked OGB and said that it was awarded as the best performing bank during Make In Odisha Conclave for its contribution to the Mission Shakti programme. On the occasion, Naveen flagged-off 5 Multi Purpose Mobile Van-cum-ATM. The Chief Minister hoped this would further strengthen the financial inclusion program in rural areas.
It may be noted that Odisha Gramya Bank has played an important role in providing loans to rural women. For this, it has also received Excellence Award from the State Government for the last 6 years.
State Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari joined the program and said that efforts are on to increase the loan amount of Rs 4 lakh to take forward the Mission Shakti program. For this, he advised the banks to cooperate.
Women and Child Development Minister Basanti Hembram said that today Mission Shakti has turned into a big tree for the CM’s vision. Mission Shakti’s women members are far ahead in the field of loan repayment, she said.
Participating in the program, the Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Mission Shakti Department, Sujata Karthikeyan said that the main objective of the Mission Shakti program is that women should have presence in various fields, perform and excel in a dignified manner.
“Earlier, women used to avoid going to banks, it was a male dominated activity. Today, banks are reaching out to women, moving from door to door and offering loans happily. This is called transformation. Odisha is the only State where provisions are in place to offer Rs 50,000 as loan in 5 years along with an interest waiver of Rs 1200 crore to women SHGs,” she said.
The Chairman of OGB, Mohan M gave the welcome address on the occasion, and General Manager Basant Patra gave the vote of thanks.
