Prasad makes a case for MUDRA funding for CSCs

Common Services Centres (CSCs), the service delivery points in rural areas, should get loans under the MUDRA scheme as these are run by small entrepreneurs, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said.
The minister said he is open to taking up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
"CSCs need to be funded, and being small-time entrepreneurs, they are fully qualified to get banking assistance under the MUDRA scheme," Prasad said here.
The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) was launched in April, under which the overall loan disbursement target has been set at about Rs 1.22 lakh crore for 2015-16.

"Our CSCs are small-scale initiatives... And MUDRA is for such institutions. If necessary, I will take up the matter with the Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister as CSCs will play a major role to make Digital India successful," Prasad said.
The products available under the PMMY are classified as Shishu, Kishor and Tarun to denote the stage of growth and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit or the entrepreneur in question.

While Shishu covers loans of up to Rs 50,000, Kishor takes care of those above Rs 50,000 and up to Rs 5 lakh. The Tarun category provides loans of above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 10 lakh.

CSCs are information and communications technology (ICT)-enabled front-end service delivery points at the village level for delivery of government, financial, social and private services.
The CSC scheme is being implemented under the National e-governance plan (NeGP) formulated by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).