In terms of Reserve Bank of India guidelines on Priority Sector Lending (PSL) a target of 40 percent of Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) or Credit Equivalent amount of Off-Balance Sheet Exposures (OBE), whichever is higher, as of preceding March 31st, has been mandated for lending to the priority sector by domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks and Foreign Banks with 20 branches and above. Within this, sub-targets of 10 and 18 percent of ANBC or Credit Equivalent amount of OBE, whichever is higher, as of preceding March 31st, have been mandated for lending to weaker sections and Agriculture, respectively.
Further, within the 18 percent target for agriculture, a sub-target of 8 percent of ANBC or OBE, whichever is higher, has been prescribed for Small and Marginal Farmers.
To give a filip to low-cost housing for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWSs) and Low Income Groups, the Housing Loan Limits for eligibility under PSL have been revised to ₹ 35 lakh in metropolitan centres (with population of ten lakh and above), and ₹ 25 lakh in otherCentres with certain conditions
Government has various Loan Schemes for benefitting poor people. Some of the Schemes of the Government are as under:
- Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY): provides access to institutional finance to unfunded micro / small business units by extending loans upto ₹ 10 lakh for manufacturing, processing, trading, services and activities allied to agriculture. Total loan sanction till 31.03.2019 since the inception of the scheme amounts to ₹ 8.93 lakh crore to 18.25 crore borrowers.
- Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U): In pursuance of the Government vision of facilitating housing to all by 2022 Government has launched Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) mission on 25.06.2015. The mission aims to provide assistance to all States/UTs in addressing the housing requirement of urban poor including Economically Weaker Section (EWS)/ Low Income Group (LIG).
- Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme (CSIS) - is an unique Scheme which pivots around the vision that no student desiring to pursue higher education is denied of the opportunity if he/ she is financially poor. This Scheme benefits all categories of economically weaker students for pursuing professional/ technical courses in lndia and intends to provide affordable higher education. Under this scheme full interest subsidy on educational loans upto ₹ 7.50 lakh is available during the period of moratorium on loans availed under the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) Model Education Loan Scheme from Scheduled Banks.
- Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM): aims at promoting poverty reduction through building strong institutions of the poor, particularly women and enabling these institutions to access a range of financial services and livelihood services.DAY-NRLM has a provision for interest subvention, to cover the difference between the Lending Rate of the banks and 7% per annum, on all credit from the banks/ financial institutions availed by women Self Help Groups (SHGs), for a maximum of ₹ 3 Lakh per SHG. Further there is also provision of additional interest subvention of 3% for all prompt payee SHG accounts in selected 250 districts.
- Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM)- is a centrally sponsored scheme to reduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by enabling them to access gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities.
- Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) Scheme:under the DRI Scheme, banks provide finance up to ₹15,000/- at a concessional rate of interest of 4 percent per annum to the weaker sections of the community for engaging in productive and gainful activities.
This was stated by the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply to a Parliament Question in Rajya Sabha.
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