Stree Nidhi to lend Rs 1,694 cr this year

Last year, Stree Nidhi had disbursed loans to an extent of Rs 660 cr and earned a net profit of Rs 18.75 cr

Stree Nidhi Credit Co-operative Federation Limited, promoted by the state government for providing micro finance to women self-help groups (SHGs), proposes to lend Rs 1,694 crore during 2013-14.

Last year, Stree Nidhi had disbursed loans to an extent of Rs 660 crore and earned a net profit of Rs 18.75 crore. It has so far provided loans to 460,000 members in 117,000 SHGs spread across the state.

Stree Nidhi stated in a press release that it had launched three deposit schemes under which it pays 1 per cent more interest than what is paid by State Bank of India for similar tenure deposits.

According to Stree Nidhi, loans are being extended only for income generating activities. It also does not charge any processing fee, documentation charges, penalty for delayed payment or administrative charges. Despite this, recovery percentage of loans disbursed stood at 98.

Stree Nidhi, which supplements credit flow under the SHG-bank linkage, is a community-owned institution where all the shareholders are women. It started its operations on October 6, 2011, with an authorised share capital of Rs 500 crore.

Targets to lend Rs 16,500 cr
Chief minister, N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who launched the SHG-bank linkage credit plan for 2013-14 on the second anniversary of Stree Nidhi on Saturday, said that it was targeted to provide loans to the tune of Rs 16,500 crore to women SHGs this year. Of this, Rs 14,976 crore would be provided by banks and the remaining amount would be disbursed by Stree Nidhi.