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Mudra Loans
Mudra loans provided by Punjab & Sind Bank over the last 10 years have been able to generate 10 lakh jobs at the grassroot level, the bank's managing director Swarup Kumar Saha said. Sharing the journey of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) over the past 10 years, Saha said, the bank has disbursed loans to the tune of Rs 12,820 crore under the scheme, benefiting over 6.84 lakh beneficiaries across the country. "These include small vendors, women entrepreneurs, artisans, and youth, who are now empowered to become economically self-reliant. About 44 per cent of our disbursals have been under the Shishu (loans up to Rs 50,000) category, which speaks about our focus on first-time borrowers and grassroots entrepreneurship," he told PTI. Punjab & Sind Bank has enabled entrepreneurs to establish and expand their businesses, leading to employment generation, he said, adding, "So far approximately 10 lakh employment have been generated by the bank through this scheme at the grassroots .
The government think tank NITI Aayog has pitched for a set of guidelines for assessing the creditworthiness and background verification for those availing loans under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY). The Aayog in a report titled 'Impact Assessment of PMMY' suggested encouraging E-KYC authentication for loan underwriting. This will enhance the effectiveness of assessment checks. "A set of guidelines for assessing the creditworthiness and background verification must be enlisted to provide a security net to the banks, considering the loans are collateral free and a proper risk check and assessment has a critical role to play in the sustainability of results and success of the scheme," it said in the report posted on its website. The majority of borrowers under PMMY are small entrepreneurs who have very limited documents and this makes it difficult for the banks to run verification checks as it requires more staffing and employees. The Aayog also suggested that a proper reward