As PM Modi's Loan Scheme Stutters, A Bid To Pull Up Socks

New Delhi: A group of fruit sellers, mechanics, barbers and cobblers will line up today for a "Credit Mela" or fair in west Delhi, where they will receive envelopes from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Inside the envelopes are letters that grant them loans to scale up their enterprise. The event showcases the Centre's mega credit scheme Mudra Yojana championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is yet to achieve three-fourths of the goal in half the time there initially was, the finance ministry's data shows.

The drive that comes ahead of crucial elections in Bihar next month however may not be able to take off in the state with the Election Commission's model code of conduct prohibiting handouts already in place.

But with migrants from the state featuring prominently among the beneficiaries, who are given smart cards with a picture of the Prime Minister, the scheme could fetch mileage, experts say.

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Under the Mudra scheme, announced in April by PM Modi, private and state-run banks have set a target of giving away loans worth Rs 1,22,000 crore during the current financial year that ends in March. Till now barely one fourth of the target has been achieved.
 According to the government's data, more than 35 lakh people have taken loans under the scheme till this week. Of the total Rs 24,123 crore issued, 52 per cent of the credit has gone to women. About 50 per cent beneficiaries have been new enterprises.

Amid the poor traction, the Prime Minister had raised the issue with BJP President Amit Shah late last month and sought greater promotion of the scheme by party members, party sources have told NDTV.

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Mr Shah then on September 1 met two Union ministers who handle organisational matters and discussed the coordination between the party and government on popularising such key initiatives, the sources said. Today's drive is a step towards that end, they said.