File photo of BJP president Amit Shah.
BJP chief Amit Shah today met several central ministers to discuss coordination between the party and government on popularising key initiatives, including the Mudra Bank, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April.
The BJP, along with the government, plans to organise a Mudra Bank mela or fair in late September, on the lines of its campaign for another pet scheme of PM Modi, the Jan Dhan Yojana.
The Mudra or Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Bank provides loans at low rates to microfinancing firms to help them lend more to micro small and medium enterprises or MSMEs. At the fair, people can apply for loans of between Rs 50,000 and Rs 10 lakh, the BJP has said. Those shortlisted will be given smart cards with a picture of the PM.
The mela will be held just before the crucial Bihar elections, where the BJP is focusing its campaign on development and not the caste politics that has traditionally been seen as a deciding factor in most constituencies of the state.
At his fourth and final rally before election dates for Bihar are announced, PM Modi's speech today focused on development and jobs for the state's youth.
In his agenda for the revival of growth, the Prime Minister has emphasised on building entrepreneurship to help create more jobs. India's small businesses employ more than 106 million workers, according to government statistics. A million new workers are added into the workforce every month.
Yet according to government estimates earlier this year, only four per cent of 57.7 million small business units in the country so far had access to institutional finance, leaving many to rely on informal lenders.
The banking sector has been allocated an overall disbursement target of Rs 1,22,188 crore during 2015-16 for MUDRA loans and they have already disbursed Rs 15,566 crore as of August 17 to more than 20 lakh borrowers under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA scheme, the government said last week.